Opposites Attract
by clood9
Summary: You're a North American CS: GO pro, and Hana Song is a South Korean Starcraft 2 pro. You two played a showmatch once, and are now living in the same house. Despite the fact that both of you play totally different games and are polar opposites, there might be a way for this to work. (Male Reader-Insert.)
1. Who you are

**Kek**

 **-dick**

 **(Y/N) = Your Name**

 **(U/N) = Username**

 **(T/N) = Team Name**

 **(T/M) = Teammate Name (if there's a number beside it that means it's a different teammate)**

* * *

Your name is (Y/N). Otherwise known as (U/N), the star player for (T/N) CS: GO. You were a professional Counter-Strike player. You were known as North America's last hope. **(fun fact: No North American team has won a CS: GO Major yet.)** You were the star player, the one who went on ads, the one who tested the latest and greatest gear and most of all, the player known to bringing the first Major tournament back home.

Except, you didn't have a face, at least in front of the public. You were born with crippling social anxiety. Despite many doctors telling you and your parents that it would pass and that you would grow out of it, you never did. The first time you went to an E-Sports World Championship LAN, you caved in and bought a plastic blue bucket, pierced two eye-shaped holes in it, drew a smile on it with a permanent marker and then put it on. You hated the crowd, _absolutely hated it._ You hated interviews, media and any form of attention really.

 _EWC Prime Seoul Qualifiers (Cache)_

You _hated_ that you and your team won the first Major for North America. You _hated_ having fans. Not that you didn't appreciate them, but you didn't want to see them. Above all that, you _hated_ the standard you had to uphold. You were known as the _best player the eSports scene in years,_ and you had to be lik ethat.

" _The score is fifteen to fourteen, there's so much tension in the room." The caster began. "(U/N) gets boosted on the box by the entrance by his teammate (T/M)."_

" _Twenty-five seconds left, molotovs in, set-piece out…and (U/N) has let them all pass." You align your crosshair and fire. "One!" Then quickly disposing of another player. "Two!" Then the third one that came out. "Three! Oh! Raz3 is the last one alive!"_

 _Player Raz3 gets killed by your teammates._

" _They tie the game, we're going into overtime!"_

 _The crowd goes wild as your teammate (T/M) gets off his chair and shakes you until you're slightly dizzy before sitting back down._

You never knew you could make it this far, especially with how shy you were. You never knew that the bucket you wore would be your symbol, how they would recognize you in the crowds or on stage.

 _EWC Prime Seoul, semifinals against Team Vapor_

" _It's gonna be (T/M), but, (U/N) is creeping, they've seen him with the AWP now, and the desperate play into B comes in." The caster pauses. "Smokes-double smokes in the same places(U/N) just jumping casually in the site, he's gonna fall down and-" The crowd drowns out the caster._

" _What is this clutch from (U/N) are you serious, what is that you can't do that (U/N)! This isn't APL, this is a major!" The replay comes in of you jumping down, taking down one of the two remaining of Team Vapor's, it was a no-scope, you quickly notice the other player and promptly no-scope him. "It was a no-scope! It was a no-scope!"_

That moment was also one of the many things you were known for.

Those moments quickly came to an end as the Omnic Crisis came forward. You were drafted by the US Military to fight against the impending threat. Your fans didn't want you to go, they were afraid that you wouldn't make it back, even going as as far as protesting against it. You were their icon, the one the average gamer looked up to, the one any aspiring pro wanted to become.

You felt as it was your duty to fight against the Omnics. In the end, the fans couldn't stop you from doing what you felt had to be done.

For a year, you went completely dark. Your social media goes untouched for months, there's no update on your whereabouts nor do the fan e-mails that get sent to your inbox ever get checked. You just simply disappeared from the world.

Many have theorized that you have died in combat, it was a widely believed theory, the drama that ensued never left media headlines for months as everyone was dying to know what happened to the CS: GO legend known as (U/N).

The commotion died down as you started to fade from peoples' memories. People had to move on, they couldn't just sit around worrying about someone they don't even know.

That is until a picture of your team's logo was posted on your social media accounts Just in time for the latest major. EWC Busan 2075.

/

You stared into the monitor, deeply concentrated in the game. It was the group stages. Your team was against Ludum bonum, (Good Game). A South-Korean team that was the clear favorites in the crowd. Your team was booed when the five of you appeared on stage, the exact opposite happening when your opponents appeared.

You blinked as you fist-bumped your teammate after a 1v1 bomb plant retake situation.

" _(T/M2) takes down Eclipse with the M4 and has enough time for the defuse!"_ The caster said, garnering a crowd-wide moan of disappointment as the next round started. " _If you're just joining us, it's (T/N), the American champions versus Ludum bonum, the crowd-favorites. (T/N) are off to a good start with an eight-to-one lead against their opponents. They're playing on Dust Two and it looks like there's a tactical pause coming in from (T/N)."_

The weapons your team currently slowly started getting replaced with AWPs, with the four of five people on the team having sniper rifles, ready to shoot some ducks.

" _Oh and look at the guns, four AWPs! They're ready to shoot some ducks as they cross the middle and it's gonna be a challenge and Angel!"_ The player known as Angel scopes in his rifle as he gets a vision of the middle section of this map, only to be shot back by four AWPs. _"Not in this lifetime! He is destroyed!"_

Map 1 was won by (U/N), and the analysts and casters were expecting it to be a 2-0 sweep, much to the dismay of the South Korean fans.

/

 _D'VA on social media, before Map 1: "Let's go LuBo! Beat those cocky Americans!"_

 _After Map 1: "They just got lucky, Map 2 will be EZ PZ."_

Even though Hana Song wasn't a huge Counter-Strike buff, it was quite entertaining to watch the matches. Especially with the rise of a team from her country, she wanted to wish them good luck.

She watched her monitor as the second map Overpass started.

/

 _EWC Prime Busan group stages, Map 2 against Ludum Bonum (Overpass)_

The game didn't start out well as the first half ended 12-3 in favor of your opponents. You were on the CT side now.

Despite the massive round deficit, your In-Game-Leader was feeling quite confident, and so was the rest of the team. Why? A special boost was found that no one knew about. It allowed whoever was on top to see nearly half the entire map.

The team didn't use it yet, only after pistol round.

" _Oh my god what is this boost coming in from, (T/N)? They can see all the way to the bathrooms as well! This is (T/M) being a genius."_ You lined up a shot.

An enemy player fell.

" _Straight headshot there, Smitt looking confused and dazed!"_ The caster spoke with shock. _"And there's gonna be a follow-up!"_ The crowd went wild.

. . .

Map 3 was won 16-13. Despite the massive controversy, EWC has ruled that the boost was legal, but the map creator has gone on to say he will patch the boost.

/

"Oh come on! It was so unfair!" Hana Song, commonly known as D'VA complained as she smacked her hands on the table at the ruling. She grumbled some more before closing the live stream and going on social media.

" _Map 2 was completely unfair, the boost was so OP! Pls, nerf!"_

She sighed.

The finals for her game was tomorrow. She better be practicing.

 _EWC Prime Seoul SC2 Finals_

" _It's the final showdown. The entire map has been cleansed of all resources, all that remains are the units and the defense. HDK's completely relying on his defense and what's left of his troops, he's in a desperate situation and he's hoping to God that they'll hold D'VA's troops off. That miracle may come, but D'VA's army seems pretty convincing to me."_ D'VA played as Terran, and HDK played as Protoss.

" _D'VA's Marine and Marauder army is coming closer…there's no god damn way HDK's going to survive this."_

" _First line of defense has crumbled! HDK is panicking right now! He's ordering all his remaining troops to attack! It's-it's a massacre! D'VA have some mercy!"_ The caster joked as he raised the energy in the arena. _"They're getting closer!"_

" _Wait…what is this? HDK has an army of Protoss with him! What!? Looks like he may have a chance to fight back! This is getting close people!"_

…

" _They're now engaging! It's getting close!"_ The caster held his breath. _"It's the battle of a lifetime, neck-to-neck, it's-it's…"_

The crowd held their breath as both sides lost considerable units and only continued losing.

" _AND D'VA MAKES IT OUT! WHAT A GAME! D'VA WINS THE BEST OF THREE AND TAKES HER SECOND EWC PRIME CHAMPIONSHIP IN A ROW!"_

D'VA typed 'GG' in chat as she stood up from her seat, rubbing her ass after having sat on it for more than three hours by now. The matchup was harder than she thought. She stepped out of her booth and walked to the stage, a beaming smile on her face.

She shook HDK's hand and walked forward towards the massive trophy, and promptly lifted it from its podium, cheering alongside the crowd.

/

You were known as "D'VA's CS: GO Counterpart". You didn't like that. Not at all. _Why, oh why did you have to be so popular!?_

You took a deep breath as you stepped forward, your bucket on your head and your feet on the ground. You stood straight and faced the crowd who started chanting your username. You took another breath and stepped forward, lifting the trophy from its podium, holding it up high as you silently cheered to yourself, and your team.

" _And this, ladies and gentlemen, is America's second Major title!"_ The announcer said. The crowd erupted in cheers as he did so.

You put down the trophy and let your teammates touch it.

You heard (T/M) whisper into your ear. "Hey…I heard D'VA's doing a show match, her against the crowd…do you want to try? I know you have a crush on her…" Your cheeks immediately started to redden as you thought about your _slight_ crush on the StarCraft pro.

"It's-It's not that big…" You muttered back.

"Come on! We all know it! We'll take more about it when we get back to the hotel.

* * *

 **So, here we are again. A new idea I'm jotting down and something that comes from the crazier part of my mind. Let me know what you think.**

 **-signed, a dick :)**


	2. Stuck

**update: changed the y/n, t/m shit so check chap 1 for more details.**

 **Oh, guest, this is a reader insert! You put yourself in the story! ^v^**

 **Oh right, the reader is male-centered.**

 **And I don't know how to write starcraft 2, I never played it, CS is life.**

* * *

You _hated_ being the one that stood in front of your teammates, why did you have to be the one that lifted the trophy, why couldn't it be (T/M)!? The In-Game-Leader! He's so much more important than you are!

Why, oh, why, did it have to be you!? Why couldn't you be able to make a mistake and not have it be posted and spread on social media and have it stay there for days on end!? Why!?

" _Now it's (U/N) in the one-v-one against Fuzzlie, he's playing it aggressively and (U/N)'s gonna clutch it! And (T/N) close out map number one sixteen-to-eleven!" The crowd cheered. But your team did in fact not win. Your player's model lay there, dead on the floor. "Oh wait, what?"_

" _Okay then." The other caster commented._

" _No!" The replay came on. It showed you walking through a molotov that you threw yourself, in order to flush out Fuzzlie from his spot. "Oh NO! (U/N)! NO!" Following that, your character dies._

" _Oh…that is-uh, heartbreaking."_

That incident haunted you for months to come, you almost quit your career because of it. Nobody knew how much of an impact it had on your self-esteem. You can't blame them but it still hurt you considerably, even if it was months after the debacle.

You stopped streaming and even appearing in public for three months because of it. It was the lowest point of your career.

/

 _How_ did they get you to agree to this? _How?_

You wore your team jersey alongside a team-branded sweater and signed both of them yourself because you wanted to look like a fan and not the real deal. How was she able to be this confident in front of _this_ big a crowd! And it didn't help that D'VA made _solid_ eye contact with you for at least _five whole seconds_ before singling you out.

"You!" She pointed towards you, and you immediately paled. "Come on up! Let's play!" She flashed a cocky grin as you gulped and walked forward, the crowd making way for you as you climbed onto the stage.

She had a microphone in her hand. "So!" She started. "What's your name?"

"(Y/N)." You said back, trying to sound as confident as you possibly could. The crowd was rather large. Thank God you didn't wear the bucket cause it probably would have been even larger.

You silently gulped.

To keep your mind off of the crowd, you focused on the show match's rules. It was a race against the famous D'VA to get from point A to B. There were four stages to the race, if you were ahead and got to the first one before her, you would win a signed T-Shirt. If you beat her to the second stage, you won a signed hoodie. If you beat her to the third, you won the latest and greatest in gaming accessories. If you, god forbid, _beat_ the legendary D'VA, you would win a laptop, a brand new gaming computer and _lots_ and _lots_ of merchandise. Keep in mind if you get to either the second, third or last stage before her but either lagged behind on the first or other points, you would get the prizes from the stage you didn't make it on.

"Uhh, hello?" She waved her hand in front of your face, knocking you out of that period of concentration. "You okay? Uh, you can go back into the crowd if you're not feeling comfortable."

"Oh! Uh, yeah, sorry, zoned out for a second there, uh." You coughed. "Let's do this." You smirked, which was probably the most confident thing he has ever done in front of a crowd.

You then made your way to the PC designated for the crowd, sat down, cracked your knuckles and started playing.

 _D'VA: "glhf"_

 _RANDOM: "hfhf"_

/

You got plowed, like, destroyed. You managed to get the early advantage and beat D'VA on the first stage and that was it, you got plowed through miserably as her lead started becoming bigger and bigger, and then before you knew it, she won.

At least you got a T-shirt.

You yawned as you made your way back to your apartment, tomorrow you were going back home. Oh, how glad you were to be able to just have some peace and privacy.

Privacy. It was something you really cherished. You sighed with content as you stretched your arms, making sure to keep a good hold on the T-shirt you won.

You accelerated your pace as you heard footsteps behind you. Not bothering to look behind, you continued on your path. You didn't want to talk to anyone tonight. The only thing you're asking for is to get your ass back to home and snuggle up in bed and sleep until you have to wake up again.

The footsteps accelerated too. This couldn't be a coincidence. _Someone is after you._

You stopped and looked behind, making sure that the hood of your hoodie was on.

You saw…nothing.

Maybe it was your imagination, you thought. Nothing to worry. Just being a bit paranoid tonight.

That was when you felt something grasp your shoulder.

"Hey…" A feminine voice whispered into your ear. You stood frozen stiff and quite possibly felt a nose bleed coming along. You waited for the person to continue. "I have something I need to tell you…come with me."

"Who the Hell are you…?" You responded before quickly grabbing onto hand and turning to face your assailant. You got a quick glimpse of her face before she suddenly disappeared, like that, just, _poof_ , and she's gone.

You looked around in shock as you tried to identify who just did that.

But not a peep.

. . .

 _The next day._

"Sorry sir, your passport is invalid." The Omnic that stood at the airport checkpoint handed back your passport. "You will have to apply for another passport at the embassy."

"What?" (T/M) asked, "It was issued straight from the government!"

"I'm sorry sir, but his passport isn't valid. He will have to apply for another at the embassy." The Omnic repeated its message.

(T/M) groaned as he contacted the team's manager.

. . .

"God damnit…nothing we can do, sorry (Y/N). Looks like you're stuck here." (T/M) said, you sighed. Already having accepted your fate. "Sorry." He put a hand on your shoulder.

"Don't worry." You shook him off. "I'll find a way to live. It's not your fault. Bring the trophy home. I'll be there soon."

(T/M) smiled and patted you on the back, pulling you into a hug. "I'll see what I can do when we get back home."

. . .

You were accepted for a new passport but it was going to take at least two months to get a passport. The demand was quite high right now, and you were placed on the back of the list.

You sighed as you walked back out with your suitcase behind you. Hailing a taxi, you got inside and pulled out your phone, opening the social media app.

 _(U/N) on social media: "Passport expired, said I'll get a new one in a few months, anyone need a roommate? ^v^ kappa"_

Of course, it was a joke. Until after maybe a few seconds, you got a reply from D'VA herself.

" _hmu"_

Despite you having the social skills of a caveman and the comedic value of a mute, you wanted to go on with the joke, if it was a joke at all.

You DMed D'VA.

 _(U/N): yo_

 _D'VA: holy shit you were serious_

 _(U/N): ye, I actually need a place to stay mind if I come over?_

 _D'VA: sure, gimme ten mins, I need to fix up the guest room, haven't cleaned that in a while lol, you gonna be streaming while you're at my place?_

 _(U/N): ye_

 _D'VA: gr8, see you_

Oh god, she was being serious too. God damnit you shouldn't have followed up with it. Now it would just be rude to just cancel because you were joking! You sighed and relaxed your head on the headrest.

/

Hana Song was quite serious with that offer, she never had company with her for _so, so_ long. It was mostly because of her parents. They always said that friends were a waste of time, that they were just gonna be a burden, they told her that she'd only be weighed down by them and that it will mean nothing in the end because _nobody_ was going to be a _true_ friend with a person that's this popular.

Her career started when she was just fourteen-years-old, having scrounged up enough money for a copy of Starcraft and a computer capable enough to run it, she started playing the game, thinking it was only going to be a hobby.

Until she spent hours playing the game without even realizing it.

Then she started streaming and _lo-and-behold_ , there she had viewers, it started out small, with maybe around a few dozen to a hundred viewers per stream, until it got bigger. Like _way_ bigger. Her claim to fame was when at she managed to beat the top player in a regular Grandmaster matchup. It was by complete chance they managed to go against one another, and she came out on top.

Her viewership boosted tremendously, increasing to the thousands before _Vapor,_ the massive eSports organization, approached her, wanting her to officially represent the up and coming SC2 division.

The initial backlash and apathy were quite strong, as many dismissed the thought of having a _girl_ win anything meaningful.

She proved them quite wrong when she won SPL (Starcraft Pro League) season 4 over the current reigning champion, _HDK,_ which was the person she just beat (again) yesterday.

Then her crusade of victories took the world by surprise. Before she knew it, she became the number one player in the world and a global icon.

Until the Omnic Crisis hit. She was drafted by the military and her story is known from there. When the crisis blew over with the help of Overwatch, she went back to being a pro gamer.

And she never realized how lonely she was doing this, the only thing Hana had was her fans and Team Vapor's massive gaming house only she inhabited.

Once she finished with the room, she left it and closed the door behind her, intending to get some sort of snack to nourish her hungry body. Hana yawned as she stretched and grabbed a back of chips from the counter then started hungrily munching on them.

She put away the bag once she heard the doorbell ring. (U/N) was punctual, that was a good. Hana stood up and made her way to the front door, opening it once she arrived.

And there he was, the bucket-headed, CS: GO legend. She smiled and ushered him to come in.

"Uh, hi…" He muttered in response, stepping into her house, making sure to scrape his shoes on the carpet before taking them off, setting them neatly to the side beside hers. "Yeah…sorry if this is a bit sudden."

"No worries! Come on, I'll show you the room you're in!" Hana cheerfully said as she turned around. (Y/N) followed.

She led him through a small maze of hallways that stopped at a colorful door labeled 'Unoccupied'. "I'll leave you to it. Also," Hana paused. "You sign your own shirt?" She pointed at bright silver writing on your shirt.

"It was given to me by a fan…" You muttered.

"Oh, that's pretty cool!" She huffed. "Well, I'll leave you to it!"

Hana watched (Y/N) entered the room and closed the door behind him.

/

You stood in your temporary room, a skillful eye scanning what's inside. There was a white and blue desk with a PC and monitor that accented each other and the walls. On the left wall was an aquamarine blue drawer that had a boxy style to it flanked by the bed. A small nightstand with a lamp was to the bed's side.

You shrugged and put down your duffel back, unloading the contents and stuffing them into the drawer. Setting up your mouse and keyboard after all.

There was only complete silence, giving you time to think, relax and accidentally remembering other plays you did during the major your team just won.

 _EWC Prime Seoul, finals against Team sMall (Mirage)_

" _In fact, they're going for HUGE PLAYS! PREY! Triple spray through the smoke and that shatters the defense! (T/M) in a two on four!" You moved up through connector area, going up the stairs and looking into the jungle area._

" _That bomb plant has already been happening for a while now " You take down one player by the triple boxes to the right on the bomb site. "So (U/N), that's a good kill, but they realize, Prey is still in there," You throw a flashbang into the jungle area and catch another player off guard, taking him down. "They're gonna try and go for this, they're going all-in. (U/N) comes in with another kill and back to a two on two." You look towards the entrance of the bomb site (A ramp), firing off a couple shots and getting hit a couple times, reducing your health._

" _That bomb's so far ticked and they gotta move right now!" You turn towards jungle area and kill Prey. "They're going for it, the defuse is already happening and (U/N) are you kidding me they win the round and (U/N) picks up three kills and (T/N) win it, what!?"_

* * *

 **I don't invent these CS: GO clips, bonus points for you if you know what these are and where they come from. Also, I don't know Starcraft so excuse me on my shit knowledge of it.**


	3. Friend

Accusations of you hacking were quite commonplace by fans of other teams that were beat by yours. You did indeed have suspicious moments but nothing has been proved, alongside the fact that you're actually completely legit.

 _EWC Prime Cologne, semifinals (Dust 2)_

" _One-v-one. (U/N) against the Giant, both players have stepped up phenomenally for their side." You walked up towards the A site, right in front of it._ _ **(Area between CT spawn and Long cross)**_ _Giant looks around. You jump and headshot Giant with a USP-S. "OH! (U/N)! (U/N!) Can you believe it!?"_

Despite the accusations that flooded to the point where if they came into a mailbox, the mailbox wouldn't be visible through the pile. Everyone was just angry that a _North American_ player and the team was dominating the fan favorites. They subsided, but many people remain suspicious of your ability. With a couple of players from other teams thinking so too. It mattered to you, it mattered to you a lot.

You wanted to find a way to stop the hate from coming your way. You needed to find something. That was why the molotov incident happened. You secretly let it happen, you just wanted to shift the attention away from the topic of _you cheating._

Except that came with a much worse repercussion. You thought people would forget about it quickly, just a case of someone celebrating too early. But no, they didn't forget about it.

/

 _EWC Prime Cologne, finals (Cobblestone)_

" _(U/N) gets the shot anyways," You move into the smoke-covered door that led to bombsite B and firing randomly through it, landing a shot on another player, "WHAT!? WHAT!? WHAT WAS THAT!?"_

That was clearly your most suspicious clip, many citing it as a blatant aimlock.

You sighed as you rested your head on the bed, relaxing as your mind slowly drifted elsewhere.

Until the notification sound for your phone rang. You sat up and picked up the device, looking at the screen as you read the latest notification.

It was a request for an interview by a news station, your PR agent sent you the e-mail and was heavily favoring you doing the interview.

You sighed and replied to the e-mail, answering the request with a 'yes' before shutting down the phone, tossing it down onto the nightstand and turning in for the night.

. . .

You clearly weren't a morning person, as you groggily woke back up, your vision blurry after doing just that. You groaned and rolled off the bed, landing on your feet as you made your way to the drawer in the room and digging out a used set of clothes that you could wear for the day. It considered of a red t-shirt, a hoodie with your team's logo on it and sweatpants.

You quickly changed and froze as you heard, just outside of your room, two people arguing. One sounded like D'VA and the other sounded like a hardass of a fifty-year-old man. They both argued in Korean, so you couldn't understand jack-diddly-shit.

You quickly moved away from the door and moved towards the computer, sitting down on it and turning it down, quickly booting up your game of choice, _Counter-Strike_ and then connected to a Deathmatch server before warming up.

You felt…confident when in front of a screen, it felt like some sort of roadblock between you and a person, and in a way, it was. You were what people called an 'onliner'. You just liked being in online events and not on LAN. Either you were so concentrated that you just zoned out whoever was talking to you, in-game or not or you were chilling with chat.

But you were doing the former as you barely heard the door slam open, followed by barely audible steps, mostly drowned out by the sound of your game.

"Excuse me, '(U/N)'," the man talked with a great bit of sarcasm in his voice. "I believe that this house was reserved for Team Vapor members." You held out your index finger to him, finished a quick kill before removing one ear from your headphones.

"Sorry, these headphones are really good, say that again?" You said, whilst continuing your game. You honestly didn't care about the person behind you.

"You are not allowed here." The man calmly said, his voice cool and laced with venom in it. "Americans like you have _no right to be here!_ "

He sounded like the typical villain in a romance movie.

"I mean, she let me stay here. So there's that." You replied, blinking a few times as you continued ignoring whoever was behind you. "If you don't like it, fine, I'll move along and you'll only be proving that you aren't the warm hearted person in the interviews." You picked up your phone, waving it around. "Social media's a thing." You still haven't made eye contact. Your hand dug into your duffel bag and grabbed a piece and quickly unwrapped the packaging before sticking the gum inside your mouth.

"Now fuck off. I'm warming up." You muttered as you put back the earpad on your ear. "And this American and his team just beat the team _you own._ "

It was Hana Song's father. The owner of Team Vapor. "Now excuse me, but I need to start my stream." You chuckled.

The man was probably going to scream at you some more but the only thing he ended up doing was stomping out.

"Your dad this possessive?" You asked.

"W...wow. Jeez, that monitor changes you." D'VA replied. "Do you not just give a damn when you're playing?"

"Affirmative." Your attention was concentrated on the game, your warm up before you streamed. "Hopefully your dad didn't bring you in on eSports, did he?"

"Nope. Vapor approached me before he owned the org." Hana sighed. "He wanted to capitalize after I joined."

"Makes sense." You shrugged. "(T/N) is looking for someone to be in the Starcraft division."

"Psh, I'm under contract. My dad would kill me if I did that." She laughed.

"Shame." You replied, you quickly broke eye contact from the screen and stole a glance behind you before looking back.

/

You were never the type of person to go out with someone, let alone go outside at all. But here you were, having breakfast…no lunch, after your stream. The two of you introduced yourselves to each other and the conversation pretty much went on from there.

"So…your team told you to go in that show match yesterday?" You nodded at Hana's question. "They gonna play with a stand-in now you're stuck here?"

You shook your head. "…Hundred ping warrior." You muttered, chuckling a bit under your breath.

"Ah, you're still able to frag in online matches with that ping?" She tilted her head to one side, whilst taking another bite of her sandwich.

"Just a matter of positioning…you don't take aim duels directly. It's suicide." You replied, your voice sounding a bit more firm.

"Say…you want to show me how to play the game? Something for the stream I guess, think they're getting bored with me destroying everyone in matchmaking. Talking about Starcraft of course." She pouted.

"What? You only play matchmaking? Isn't there some sort of service that puts you with other pros?" You asked, surprising, since you only played on third-party services, as the built-in matchmaking service was quite broken and rampant with cheaters. "Is the anti-cheat good?"

"Kind of? Sometimes I get plowed by randoms, but most of the time it's pretty fair." You shrugged at her answer.

"Anyways, sure, we can, god I hate this word, collab." You replied. "Won't your dad get pissed that you're not focused on your game and choose to play with _American scum?_ "

"He can't do anything about it." You both laughed.

/

Hana could relate to (Y/N). The two of you shared so many similarities it was unbelievable. Except for the parents, both your parents were different in every way.

The two of you started out as 'onliners' before turning into 'Tier-2 players' and then 'Major championship winners'. It was quite absurd how similar both of your stories were, yet how different you two were in terms of personality. On one side you have the charismatic D'VA and on the other, you have the meek, shy (Y/N). Both living in the same house. Only them, though. Nobody else but them.

And now they're collaborating on stream. She wondered what the headlines would be.

" _D'VA gets humiliated live on stream by pro Counter-Strike player!"_ or _"D'VA and (U/N) are streaming together. They might already be in a relationship."_ or _"D'VA ABANDONING STARCRAFT? GOING TO COUNTER-STRIKE?"_

She honestly didn't give a _single_ _fuck_ about the headlines, all she cared about was competing, winning _and_ her fans.

(Y/N) was a great teacher, despite his shyness and apparent social anxiety. He manages to communicate what he wants her to do quite clearly and effectively. She was already getting the grip on the game he played. Although she still doesn't know how you're able to get such amazing clips that would make the front pages of every social media site for days.

She looked into chat, reading what she could.

"…No, you won't see me in a team at the next major." She said, chewing her bubble gum as she navigated her character around the map. "Although I'll be in the crowds." She winked at her face cam.

She heard (Y/N) audibly exhale through his nose in his mic. "What? Nothing wrong with rooting for my favorite team?"

"Yeah…whatever." (Y/N) replied as he most definitely crawled into a fetal position on his chair. "Anyways, onto pop-flashing."

* * *

 **1g in chat boissss**

 **also im not that big of c9 fan**


	4. Enemies

**Team Talon:**

 **Reaper (IGL and entry fragger)**

 **Widowmaker (AWPer)**

 **Sombra (Lurker)**

 **Junkrat (Support)**

 **Roadhog (Entry fragger)**

 **Team Overwatch:**

 **Soldier: 76 (IGL)**

 **Tracer (Lurker)**

 **Mercy (Support)**

 **Ana** **(AWPer)** _ **(will be spelled AnA)**_

 **McCree (Entry fragger)**

 **Should look those terms up to understand what they mean.**

* * *

When you talked about your past, you did your best to remain aloof on your childhood because it honestly wasn't something that should be said. Your parents fully supported your gaming career which was a great thing in and of itself, but a basic necessity that every parent should learn shouldn't be publicized. Because you were one of the few success stories, how many aspiring pros actually made it to the scene? Not much.

But you, you were special. You were just _talented_ , simply _talented_ at the game. When you started streaming your games, you were known as the most _online piece of shit_ in APL because you just made _ridiculous_ plays in-game, plays that would get the most talented analyst scratching their head on what the point of it was. You _could've_ played this safer angle and still got a free kill, but _no_ , you pushed right through the smoke with an AWP and killed anyone in your way. It was an extremely risky playstyle that wouldn't work in a team environment.

You were picked up by a Tier 2 team that nobody knew about, and your crusade there was quite forgettable but _just_ memorable enough to be placed as a substitute for (T/N).

The reason you were a substitute? One of the players has just left mere _days_ before a tournament. It was a _LucidHunt_ tournament, an event that featured the top teams and a 450k dollar prize pool, a prestigious title to win.

The response from the community and the media was quite negative at best.

" _lol (T/N) aren't going to win this tourney"_

" _you've got to be kidding me"_

" _lol"_

" _bold prediction: (T/N) get 16-0'd in qualifiers"_

" _who the fuck thought this was a good idea"_

" _Breaking News: (U/N) chosen as stand-in for (T/N), predictions quickly change"_

It was… discouraging, to say the least. The entire community just against you after finally getting a chance to prove yourself that _yes_ you are a contender for Tier 1 competitive play despite being a stand-in, but still, it was something.

You told yourself that you would prove everyone wrong, you would. Your team smashed the qualifiers, albeit your role was more geared towards a support player.

" _still not seeing why (U/N) was a good idea"_

" _(U/N) getting carried by his team"_

When group stages came, it was (T/N) versus the highly favored team G5. A French 'superteam' that had _all_ of the French superstars.

 _LucidHunt Open group stages, Game 1, Overpass_

" _Now it's only (U/N) standing! He's got a molly, this could be perfect!" Your character held the Molotov in hand as you quickly threw it towards the bomb site. "This could be perfect to stop this defuse he tosses it out there and that's gonna slow them down, tries to find time, Noodle will get him with the AWP," Your character quickly dies to the hand to the enemy AWP. "Have they got time they're just gonna sit and burn sit and burn! They all go down! (U/N) gets all three of them with the molly!"_ The small audience that gathered cheered and clapped.

That game was won quite quickly.

" _xd lucky game"_

" _chill its only first game G5 are just warming up"_

 _LucidHunt group stages, Game 2, Cache_

 _You were holding B site, looking towards the B Main entrance before quickly flicking into an enemy that was in the Checkers area "What the hell was-"_

 _You quickly refocused on the B Main entrance as two players came in, lining up to get destroyed. You shot and killed them both. "I mean-OH!"_

Game two was also won, advancing team (T/N) into the playoffs.

. . .

When people spoke about (T/N)'s biggest enemy, they said that Team Vapor was the biggest competitor to the 'NA Steamroller'.

But your, and your teams' opinions differed. Their worries were placed more towards Team Talon. An international team that had a reputation of being cheaters, match fixers and most importantly bribers. That is what the amount of money they manage to transfer to unknown groups is suspected to be after all. It was now a law by the WEC (World Esports Council), the governing body for most major events, for organizations to disclose where money is being sent and how much, in an effort to facilitate the investigations of potential match fixes.

The reason why this was so worrying is because the time a large sum of money is sent just so happens to correlate with interviews of players that just so happened to have negative opinions about other teams and were endorsing Talon as a 'potential Major winner'.

The case that worried you the most was when a former teammate of yours was just putting you on the spotlight and turning you into a spitroast. It was also conveniently timed for the _LucidHunt_ event.

" _I have never seen such a brain-dead person in my entire life." Former teammate, HA3 said. "Like, all he cared about was killing people." He shook his head. "We told him he couldn't do this but he just said he could!" HA3 takes a deep breath. "I honestly am glad he's gone from the team. I and the rest of the team don't feel comfortable with his style. Mark my words, (T/N) isn't going to win this tournament, the internet is right about (U/N), he's just an online star that only wants kills. He doesn't care about the team winning. He only cares about his score."_

He quickly retracted his claim after (T/N) advanced to the finals of the LucidHunt Open. Facing off against another team that was also unexpected to be there, Team Overwatch. Also, an international team that looked _scary_ as fuck during their run in the tournament, only dropping a two map, and those two times were in the finals. The thing that differed them from Team Talon was that their reputation was squeaky clean. They were the goody-two-shoes of the scene. They treated their players well, rebutted any cheating accusation with credible evidence and had women in the team too, which was a big plus for the Female eSports scene that wasn't very strong prior to the formation of Team Overwatch.

 _LucidHunt Open, Finals, Mirage_

 _You were holding solo B site with an AWP with no armor, posted up on Van, looking towards Apartments. The crowd grew increasingly wild as the spectator view showed the five members of Team Overwatch slowly approaching. "Yeah there's a lot of pressure on him, we saw (TM/1) in this spot before but with much more utility to work with." The caster took a pause._

" _Here it comes, once again the first base is AnA (_ _ **Ana Amari)**_ _as she's gonna hit the ground there," You fall off of the van and onto the ground before jumping over the ledge, your head peeking out as you shot your AWP, "as (U/N) OH! WHAT! THE JUMPING DOUBLE FOR (U/N)!" Another player jumps out of the apartments, quickly meeting his fate as you no-scoped him into the wall._

" _What is going on right now, how does he do this!?"_

/

It was a…intense series, to say the least. Your team picked up the trophy whilst Overwatch was sent home packing. At least they were good sports about it.

The two teams shook hands and one went home with a trophy and the other didn't.

. . .

Overwatch was way too friendly. Their Lurker player, Tracer, was way too cheerful for her own good. It was like she didn't care about how unlikely her team was going to win this match. Even if it was a 15-0 half, her comms always proved that she _never_ gave up, and that determination sometimes paid off.

Then there was their AWPer, Ana, she just gives tips out left and right! She just gives them out to people who want to play her style and in turn, have that bite her in the ass because everyone knew how she played. Which is why she always changed her playstyle year-round, and always gave tips on how to be like her, and inadvertently giving out ways to beat her.

Their Support player, Mercy, was just all kinds of nice. It was said that she was a former medical student but dropped out because of her rising career and her love for the game. The Swiss woman was just so…caring and kind, towards anyone, really! It was absurd how she could stay so patient in front of a giant cloud of toxicity that was the community.

And then there's the Entry fragger and their IGL, McCree and Soldier: 76. Who were just all types of weird. One was way too old to be playing this game but still manages to keep his team together and afloat with his interesting strategies. The other was just plain weird but was a great pistol and rifle player.

You were good friends with the players, often meeting with them after a game and frequently streamed with them.

Then, on the other hand, was Team Talon. The ruthless bunch.

They were all kinds of ruthless and cold.

First, there was their IGL, Reaper, who was quite possibly the most toxic and unsportsmanlike in the entire scene. He was all kinds of uncaring, the only reason he still plays was because of his talent that managed to hold himself up. He also played dirty, so if a computer stopped working during a round and whoever was unlucky enough to be playing against Talon, there won't be getting a timeout and the round will be played a 4v5. Another thing to note was that the players coached by him either came out a superstar or flat out disappeared. It's said that there _is_ a warm side to the man, but from his appearance, his attitude and his reputation, it's unlikely to be seen in a while.

Then there's their AWPer Widowmaker. An accused murderer, but no evidence came to light. Who they accused her of killing? Her husband. Like Reaper, she was one of the coldest and most toxic players. Of course she could handle the amount of toxicity she's dishing out. Her accuracy was just plain _scary_. She never missed a shot. Not even once. Whether it be a jiggle peak or wide swing, you would only end up dead. She never fired a shot if she knew she wouldn't hit it. It was just terrifying how she knew what she's going to hit and what she isn't going to hit.

Sombra, their Lurker, was quite possibly the cheater of the group. All her plays were just plain suspicious. Despite not having a ban on her record, everyone thought she cheated. The fact that she came out of nowhere and the way she dresses did not help either. The woman was just confident, sly and manipulative. She was a master of those things. The one thing she isn't a master of? The game she plays. Why? Because of her near inept game sense and horrible rating each match. Many questioned why she's still on the team even though she performs like the average Matchmaking player but there has been no official answer, except for an angry social media post by the IGL.

The remaining two players, Junkrat and Roadhog, were just plain crazy. One was quite possibly mentally ill whilst the other took ruthless to a _whole_ new level. They were masters at psychological warfare, in other terms, they _tilted the shit out of their opponents._ **(tilt is when you start getting mad at the game)** Their performances were average at best but most could see the reason why those two mad men could stay on the team.

The opposition certainly is interesting.

* * *

 **Obligatory exposition chapter**


	5. Life

**This pretty fun to write at 1:00 in the morning.**

Your current team is a great one. The personalities and skills all meshed so well together that it felt like it was choreographed.

Everything felt so smooth when (T/M), the IGL called his strategies. His mind was practically built for Counter-Strike. He had so many strategies in his head that made him a great leader, yet all of them were so easy to pick up and effectively execute. He was built for a Tier 1 Team and his performance and capacity to lead (T/N) to victory proved so. On top of all that he was very friendly and reasonable, teammate or not he were those two things every day, all day. Playing with him made you feel…free and unrestricted yet what you were doing was the exact opposite. You played at a spot he told you to play, you saved when he said to save. Despite all that, you just felt that he wasn't putting any type of pressure on you and that you were free to run in with the AWP or play B Site when he tells you to play Long A, on top of that blue dumpster bin.

 _LucidHunt Open, Finals, Mirage (Game 3)_

" _This is an awesome play from (U/N), they show themselves from Middle, they know that Overwatch is really scared right now, so they think that there might be a lot of people in Mid but look at this, four people going towards that A site. This is a perfect play." Two players entered palace while two others crept up the A Ramp entrance whilst (T/M) stayed around the Middle area behind the wagon._

" _Who's gonna stop this, this- haha, they're evacuating the bomb site! The bomb site's been evacuated!" Your team quickly advanced onto the A site unopposed._

/

The Entry Fragger was (T/M2). A buff guy, a bit harsh at some times but always willing to help his teammates improve if he or she was in a slump or were playing a bit stupidly. He might come off as harsh when playing regular MatchMaking or in an APL PUG **(Pick-Up-Game)** but his intentions are never to belittle a player but improve them. He was also one of the greatest entry fraggers and clutch players in North America.

 _LucidHunt Open, Semifinals, Inferno (Game 1)_

" _(T/M2) gets a return frag onto Reaper and he's still here and he's going for more!" (T/M2) killed the one by car and the other one that was holding the corner at the building behind the car. "Two big frags but the third man is here however and (T/M2) has to back up but (T/M2) somehow opens it up! Single handily opens it up! All three frags!"_

/

The Lurker, (T/M3) was a deadly flanker. Combined with (T/M)'s strategies, he was a deadly player, always at the best possible place in the most opportunistic of times. He was a quiet player, which you could relate with because you were like him. Which is why you and him both got along quite well. There really wasn't much to say about him. His plays were always well placed and he never got out of line even if he could have gotten another kill for a potentially more interesting frag movie. He was just…robotic in a way. He never really tried to stand out and played his role the best he could.

 _EWC Seoul, Quarterfinals, Inferno (Game 2)_

" _But it looks like sMall is about to make their presence known, and it's only (T/M) and (T/M2) ready to stand the test. How quickly can (U/N) get there, how quickly can the cavalry arrive? It doesn't look like quick enough as Naxk finds-" The camera quickly cut to (T/M3)'s position._

" _Oh, MY GOD!" (T/M3) crouch sprays the four players of Team sMall entering the Archways and proceeds to the Top middle._

" _(T/M3)! Four frags in four seconds!"_

/

(TM/4) was the previous AWPer before you stepped into the role. She had _some_ talent in it but most people saw that she was suited for a rifle. Despite all that, she still managed to keep a neutral score and did well enough until you stepped in. Oh right, she's also a girl, which seemed to be a great shock to people involved in the scene because apparently women weren't good enough. The collective shock of the viewers didn't stop her though from doing the best she could before you stepped in.

 _EWC Minor Toronto, Semi-finals, Overpass_

" _It's gonna be a three-on-one situation and Lubo is going to be sitting quite literally on the opposite side of the map." (TM/4) plants the bomb down behind the stack of boxes facing Bank. Her character goes down into the bank, looking at the stairs leading into B._

" _I'm believing." A caster said._

" _Well, you're a bit of a believer, want to stop believing?"_

" _Why don't you cast the round?"_

" _Okay, tags up one." Her shot hits one of their players, reducing him to low health. "She's gonna get-OH!" She no scopes the player coming up the stairs from B before throwing a flashbang onto the site. "I'm starting to believe as well Jerry as she's gonna get OH!" She peeks again, looking at the bathroom area before flicking towards the stack of boxes where another player was, killing him and turning it into a 1v1. "(T/M4) STOP BLOWING MY MIND! This is gonna be absolute madness and a round we won't forget cause there goes Hadess. Saving the day for Lubo but could you stop- she's actually gone away with it! Hadess is out of the round!"_

" _No way, he's actually won the round!" Hadess runs away from the bombsite and into B, so he can survive with his gun for the next round._

/

Then there's you. The star AWPer. (U/N), the American legend, the American dream, the American Sniper, and the list goes on and on. Many other pros have said that your playstyle was completely impossible to adapt to, that they just didn't know what to do. Most NA teams worked on a trial-and-error type of playstyle in terms of placement of players. If such and such player did well on that site, they were kept there, if it didn't work and the enemy kept on hammering them on that site, he or she would change spots, exchange sites with a fellow teammate or add another one there in case they try it again. It was a flawed system that was exploited by the European teams who had actual strategies and actually played for rounds and not for an impressive scoreboard. What they couldn't counter was your playstyle, which you used as an advantage against them.

Also to note was that you were an egotistical prick online, but could never back up what you said on LAN.

/

You _really_ hated media, even more, so the paparazzi, cause those massive faggots are the worst kind of people. You just _hated_ people who had to intrude on your private life. So what you're living at another popular gamer's house, so what if that gamer happens to be a girl and so what if you two are streaming together!?

On second thought, they might have a reason to be spying on you, but that's beside the point. They were intruding on your privacy!

. . .

You kept a wary eye for anything that looked remotely like an oversized camera lens or some sort of flash. You never knew when these bastards could strike, and you had to stay on guard so you could either; make yourself look presentable or to know where someone is so you can rightfully kick their ass for spying on you and Hana.

Besides, you _really_ didn't want the rumor of you and the famous D'VA dating spreading out. Although it would have given you an egotistical boost back then on social media, in real life, however, it would have been the opposite.

"Hey," Hana tapped you on the shoulder, making you jump a bit. "You've been looking around like a madman for about ten minutes now. Everything alright?" Hana asked.

You sighed. "You know the paparazzi, right?" She nodded. "Just scared of them." Then she had that sort of 'oh right' kind of look to her.

"Right…I should have told you this wasn't America but paparazzi is pretty much illegal here." She put a hand on your shoulder. "Cause I can do this without anyone noticing!" Before planting a kiss on your cheek.

You pretty much lost all control of your body and just sat there with that blank stare of yours. After a few minutes of that a hand was waving in front of you.

"Yoo-hoo! Still there buddy?" Hana asked.

"I'm gonna stream!" You said, jumbling up the words, making it sound like more one word than a sentence. Then you darted away, back into your room.

/

You _really_ hated those paparazzi folks. _Really, really did._ It wasn't some sort of irrational fear, but an incident that developed your inner hate towards those type of people.

You were born in (State), raised in (City). It was also the place where you streamed when you were still stuck inside your parents' houses. When you were rising in popularity, the paparazzi would come by, record you practicing, and upload it to a database that contained pretty much everything they knew about you.

You ignored it at first because there wasn't anything interesting that they would find, cause all you did in your room was practice.

Then they started to get clever. They started spying on your parents, recorded their conversations and wiretapped the landline. It was a clever attempt to try and get some story for a tabloid, but most things that were said over the landline was useless information.

Your parents quickly put a stop to that, and it worked. They stopped coming over to the family house because your parents kindly asked for some of the money from your winnings of online tournaments and used it to hire security and start securing your home.

You and your parents quickly moved on.

Until you were first SWATted **(having a SWAT team sent after you for false reasons)**.

Then again.

And again.

And again.

The situation grew dire. Everywhere you went, the police were there to stop you because someone called to say that you had an AK-47 and was taking hostages or that you had a bomb and was threatening to blow up a mall complex.

It drove you to near insanity.

Then you used your part of the money after winning the LucidHunt Open to move away into an apartment in Canada where no one would disturb you for a while. It messed up the team practice schedule for two weeks or so but your life quickly went back into order.

Then the paparazzi came back.

It became a cycle of you getting spied on, then SWATted, then moving somewhere. It was destroying you. You didn't feel safe anywhere you went.

Until one day, you finally snapped. Despite your anxiety. That fateful day, the one where your life would turn around after you put a foot in the sand, you managed to catch someone spying on you and served some good 'ol justice by destroying the camera that was used.

Even though it may sound minor. It was your foothold in the ground. It was when you told the world that enough was enough and that you wouldn't stand for this shit.

/

You sat at your computer, doing nothing much. You couldn't bring yourself to play some Counter-Strike, cause you didn't feel like doing it and since there's only one game in your game library, you didn't want to do anything.

"You know, for a celebrity, you're alright to live with." You looked behind you, towards the doorway to see D'VA leaning on the door frame. "I prefer guys like you. You wouldn't believe how many assholes have lived here."

You chuckled. "Is it cause I'm not hitting on you?" Hana replied with a confident smirk. "I mean, who am I kidding, I'm probably not allowed to."

"I mean, I wouldn't mind if you tried~" She replied, adding a small bit of sultriness to her tone.

You sighed.

This was going to be a hellish stay.


	6. Stream and Nightmare

**Yes, Bastion Main, the beginning is Shroud's CZ-75 Triple kill versus iBUY(throw)POWER.**

* * *

When you streamed, you did your best to entertain the thousands of viewers watching. If you didn't it would have been just a four-hour long Q&A where the viewer had to pay to ask questions whilst someone played a PUG in the background.

The general consensus of the Internet was that you were pretty entertaining to watch, and because you were considered the best player in the world, the broadcast was observed by tens of thousands, sometimes even peaking to the hundreds of thousands when you streamed a scrim **(practice match against other teams)**.

On top of all that there were the donations. Some people were just insane. You made a shit-ton of money out of the stream and add on top of all that your cut of the prize money after your org takes their part. Hell, when you eventually would retire from pro gaming you could just stream and live the happy life.

Now, since you were the egotistical asshole online, your persona really added to the gameplay where you would cuss out a player, often times other pros for not being good enough. All a joke though, everyone knew you weren't being serious. Hopefully.

/

Fuck, you _really_ needed to piss. Almost ready to just piss your pants.

You glanced at your stream camera before looking back at your monitor. You were in a game on Dust 2, a PUG with various other pros and some randoms.

"Fuck I really need to piss…" You paused, and started brainstorming. There was a tactical pause going on and you weren't sure if you could get back in time to play the round. You quickly bought a scout and armor. "Alright fuck it. HANA!" You called out to Hana. The round started.

"Hana!" Hana's head appeared in your doorway, you turned to her. "Play this round for me!" You quickly put down your headset and rushed for the bathroom.

"Alright guys- oh what the fuck?" Hana sat down on your chair and put her hands on your mouse and keyboard. "How does he play like this?" She moved the character towards B site, where your teammates called out a rush.

Two players on your team died and the same thing happened.

Hana watched mid doors with the scout, running up towards B doors. "Oh my god these controls! What the hell am I pulling out right now!?" She complained.

"I'm flashing over." A teammate said, throwing a flash and blinded her instead of the enemy.

"Great flash, yeah." She replied. Running into the B site she scoped in and headshot a guy at the back of site, in that little corner before peeking tunnels, jumping and headshotting the player in there.

By the time that happened, you were watching from behind her and let out some sort of cheer.

The bomb was barely defused and your team won the round. "LET'S GO!" Hana cheered before getting off of your chair, with you replacing her.

"Sick play dude." One teammate said.

"Thank you, thank you." You said.

"That was Hana, dude."

"No it wasn't!"

Behind you Hana crossed her arms and put up that unimpressed face before exiting your room.

"Follow my stream!" She screamed from the hallway, loud enough for the mic on the camera to pick up.

"So, when are you guys gonna fuck?" A player on your team asked.

You froze for a second.

The question caught you so off-guard. Who the fuck asks that? You stammered a bit, trying to come up with some sort of answer that would fit your persona.

"Yeah, pretty soon." You looked straight at the camera and winked. Hopefully your viewers saw your eyes through the bucket. What you were sure they couldn't see were the beads of cold sweat going down your head.

Hana quietly appeared at your doorstep, made a heart using her fingers before disappearing again.

Chat started spamming 'GRILL' shortly after she disappeared.

"Damn you guys are thirsty motherfuckers. Alright, _ooerbooernooer,_ thanks for the five dollars dude, how long am I gonna be stuck in South Korea? Well, I don't know. Issues like these take a long time, so I might be stranded here for a while. Luckily next major is gonna be in Seoul, god bless you EWC." You looked down at the list of donations you missed. " _Alwaysnumberone_ , thanks for the twenty bucks. What do I think of the state of APL right now?"

"Well…it's a bit of a mess. A lot of NA pros don't take it seriously and are mostly trying to get that funny clip to upload. Which makes it horrible to play on. Honestly when we're bootcamping in Europe, it's so much better cause you actually get people-" You quickly stopped as another notification appeared in your donations tab. Five hundred dollars by none other than _D'VA herself._ "Whoa. Thanks, Hana? Wow. Five hundred dollars. This question better be damn- oh, shit!" You quickly went back into your game as you were just put into a 1v4 post plant situation.

"Oh baby (U/N) one-v-four!" And as you said that a player killed you. "God damnit." Luckily it was the end of the half and you had an extra thirty seconds to answer some more questions.

"Alright, Hana, let's see what you got for me…" You read the donation. "You want a kiss? Okay…"

"HANA! GET OVER HERE FOR YOUR KISS!"

Some stumbling was heard as Hana just magically appeared in your room, leaving a trail of dust behind her.

You partially lifted your helmet and puckered up. Your head inched closer and closer to Hana's cheek. It got so close, only being separated by maybe two dust particles.

Then you went straight for the most cancerous, well-timed, suicide inducing dab you have ever done. You could hear the distorted bass in your ears.

However, since you did it so quickly your helmet fell off of your head and tumbled onto the ground, rolling a few feet away from you.

"Ah-shit!" You quickly dove for the plastic container, only to watch in dismay as it gets snatched by your housemate. "God damnit!" Then she quickly ran away. "Fucking-get back here!" You tried giving chase, but Hana was _way_ too quick and finessed the hell out of your attempts to grab her.

She also finessed her way out the door and was nowhere to be seen.

"God fucking-shit!" You grumbled, screaming out as much expletives as you could in your rage. "Motherfucker! God damn, fucking dick! ARGH!" You knocked over a cup of tea.

You stomped your way into your room, looked straight at the camera.

"Suh dude." You said before quickly ending the stream, making sure to delete the recording of it afterwards.

Then you collapsed onto your bed, appreciating the softness of it before falling asleep, your legs dangling out from one side.

/

 _Operation Laughing Spark, China, classified location._

" _We're heading into China for this operation." Commander Bradley said, taking a quick pause. "Our mission is to identify what this Blacksite facility is and what it does. Advise extreme caution, the site will be heavily defended. We're detecting several large Omnic signatures coming from inside the base, I cannot stress this enough; be careful out there. Just because you're wearing a Carapace suit doesn't mean you're invincible."_

 _You looked down at your legs, your hands instinctively felt up your new armor. The Carapace suit, designed to be light weight whilst providing heavy duty protection. It was state-of-the-art gear that would no doubt help you in tough situations._

 _You were armed with an AWM-P. A variant of the AWM that now incorporates Plasma munitions in the same design as the original rifle._

 _You looked up as a green light lit up with a positive sounding blare coming from it. You looked at the pilot who had a thumb up sticking out._

" _We've arrived at the mission site. Preparing for fast rope." The team leader stood up and slid the side door of the helicopter open before grabbing a thick nylon rope and hooking it somewhere, then throwing the rope down through the open door._

 _The team leader cocked his head towards the open space, ushering one of the team members to jump down._

' _Strike-2' grabbed a hold of the rope first and slid down. Strike 3 through 4 followed suit, you were Strike-5 and the second last one to come out._

 _Team leader, obviously Strike-1 came in last._

" _Alright boys, our objective is to eliminate any hostiles in the area and find out what this facility is. Strike-Two take point, set up by that door." Strike-1 pointed towards the big metal door that was just a few feet away from them._

 _The team advanced in a line, keeping the same line when it started keeping close to the wall. Strike-2 pressed a few buttons on the control panel beside the massive door, making the giant piece of metal slide open in two parts._

" _Throwing a battle scanner." Strike-2 then threw a small spherical object into what the door led to. A feed came up in the top left side corner of your screen._

" _No hostiles in site. Advancing." The team kept close to the wall, keeping a sharp eye for any hostiles._

 _Thinking it was clear for now, you looked around, trying to find anything noteworthy to take back for analysis._

 _Your search was interrupted by a gunshot coming from somewhere distant. Then another, and then full on automatic gunfire._

" _Where the fuck is that coming from?" Strike-3 asked as he frantically looked around. You noticed that he gripped his weapon more tightly._

 _The ground shook. Then again. Then again. Each time stronger than the last. You could pinpoint that whatever made the ground shake was on the other side of a concrete wall._

 _Said wall came tumbling down as a four-legged monstrosity of an Omnic broke through it._

" _Spread out! Get to cover!" Was all you could hear from the team leader as you instantly dove behind a steel beam and lined up a shot towards the massive Omnic._

 _The world around you ceased to exist in your eyes and ears as you pulled the trigger, firing a round of jet-hot Plasma towards the_ _ **thing.**_


	7. Organization

_Operation Laughing Spark_

" _Shot connected! Target is still up!" You screamed into your radio. "Lining up another shot! Cover me!" You scoped in once more, lining up your rifle to the beast that just burst its way through the wall. Your teammates were shooting at it in order for you to line up another shot at it._

 _The monstrosity was a four-legged Omnic beast that a practical cube with armor in places where it would deflect whatever was thrown at it. There was a red circle that presumably was the mech's main weapon and under the assumption that it would be fatal to take a hit from it._

 _You emptied your lungs as you pulled the trigger once more, aiming at the target's main weapon (presumably)._

 _The monstrosity took repositioned itself, its legs locking onto the floor as the red circle started illuminating and soon enough a red laser beam was fired towards Strike-4's position. Strike-3 dove onto Strike-4, shielding her from the blast whilst also taking the brunt of the rubble that fell down. He quickly rolled off her, took a crouched position and pulled her back up._

" _Throw everything you got at it!" You lined up another shot and hit the target's main weapon. A few sparks came out and the Omnic stumbled one or two of its steps._

" _Shoot that red thing in the middle of it!" You called out, changing your position to get a higher vantage point._

 _You lined up for another shot. "Firing!" You said, shooting another round of hot green plasma at it._

" _It's getting ready to fire!" Strike-1 said as he dived for cover. Strike-3 on the other hand unloaded the rocket launcher on his back, and pointed it directly at the Omnic's main weapon._

" _What the hell are you doing! Strike-three, get down!"_

 _A plasma explosive was sent straight into the beast's weapon. It detonated right in front of it, causing a chain reaction of explosions and other goodies._

 _The beast stumbled, multiple sparks coming from it before losing its balance and toppling over._

 _That was it? You peeked from your cover. A sort of field started forming around it. More sparks came from the husk before a high-pitched whine filled everyone's ears._

" _Oh shit-EVERYONE GET OUT! MOVE IT!" Strike-1 said as he started rushing towards the exit, the team following. You were lagging behind though as you were up on a balcony._

 _You jumped down and made a mad dash for the exit._

 _Then it all went black as the building crumbled on you._

/

Your eyes opened in a sudden rush of blood towards them. You were staring at complete darkness. Vivid images of your dream came back. You could remember how it felt as if it happened yesterday. How loud the gunshots were, the ringing in your ears after the explosion, your haziness after being dug out after maybe an hour under a building, _everything_ came back to you.

No Major would ever reproduce that feeling. No clutch situation would ever get your heart racing that quickly. No crowd reaction could be louder than that Omnic's explosion. No amount of fan support would get you to do that again. Nothing could reproduce what happened that day.

Nothing.

It's probably late. You should get back to bed.

/

 _Two weeks later_

You settled in quite nice, after not hearing anything about your documents from the embassy so it was for good reason. Leaning into your chair you took a long sigh, a sign of relaxation that was unprecedented in your entire career. Normally you would be on the grind; trying to find new angles to exploit, trying to hone your skills by doing reaction tests or some other weird excuse to not go outside and interact with people.

In the end, you just didn't like the outside world. Too many people.

You dreamily smiled as you entered another level of relaxation and probably transcended this plane of existence until your phone started blowing up.

Like non-stop notifications. You scrambled to get it out of your pocket and check what all the fuss was about that required _nearly 700 notifications and counting_. You opened the top notification which was a statement by a leading eSports journalist.

" _(T/N) is considering to transfer (U/N). More to come."_ Upon reading the two sentences you quickly sprang up from your chair and speed-dialed (T/M) as quickly as you could.

"(Y/N)-" Upon hearing the IGL's voice you started to talk right over him.

"Why am I being transferred?" You started. "I better hope this is a team-"

"Wait, what? I didn't hear anything about you getting replaced." (T/M) said. "Let me check in with someone. I'll be right back."

You were put on hold for a few minutes until the call came back and you were met with a visible sigh.

"Look…it's uh…complicated. The team don't even know about your replacement." He paused. "The higher-ups think you're not performing up to par with how much they're paying you…they think that you're a negative impact on the team…let's see…and they think you're a bad influence to their PR? What? This doesn't even make sense!"

"Damn right it doesn't!" You replied, your voice slowly growing more and more unsteady as the urge to not just scream at (T/M) became extremely difficult to suppress. "I want an explanation from whoever is at the top of our org or else I'm leaving for another team!"

"You know I can't do that. I don't even think there's a name at the top of the pyramid. ATLAS Entertainment is extremely shadowy and rich. It's pretty much impossible to get in touch with them-hold on." The call was put on hold again, and stayed like that for a good five minutes.

"You're being transferred to _Talon._ "

" _What?_ "

"You heard me right, you're being transferred to _Talon._ They're putting Widowmaker on the bench." (T/M)'s exasperation was getting more and more apparent.

"Yeah, fuck that. When does my contract end again?"

"In about a year or so…"

"Look, I'm sorry about the-" You were soon to be interrupted.

"Don't bother, we're following you."

/

 _Three days later_

Your decision to leave (T/N) and the subsequent action upon it was quite messy to say the least. For one you still had to buy yourself out of your contract and it took some haggling to get the organization to agree to let you go. For two your team apparently caught the coach off guard by also requesting to buy themselves out of their contract, so it will take a while to get the team back together.

You were stuck in paperwork and was signing a _shit ton_ of documents to finalize and get the buyout underway not to mention how _expensive_ it was; eating up nearly all of your winnings.

Your teammates were on their way to the Team Vapor house so they could meet up with you to discuss further plans about where they should take the team and what events should be attended.

Hana walked into your room with a cup of water and a banana in her hands and put them down on your table, beside the paperwork.

"Figured you'd need these since you haven't eaten or drank anything since this morning." She said, kindly smiling at you as she walked away.

"Thanks…I really appreciate it Hana." You replied.

"No worries, least I can do when you're stuck in all that." She replied, smiled softly before making her way out of your room.

There was maybe another thick-as-hell packet that was left. There were maybe two or three bundles of paper that you _absolutely_ had to read in case your organization, or ATLAS Entertainment snuck something in that would fuck you over later on.

On top of all that you were embroiled in a Player's Rights movement that had many fans partaking in a boycott of all (T/N) products. Furthermore, many pros came to your defense and your phone would _not stop blowing up with messages from them._

All in all, it was a busy day.

. . .

 _Two hours later…_

"So we're signing up for LucidHunt Champions Seoul?" (T/M) asked, phone in his hands as he looked up towards the rest of the team.

Everyone looked at each other and nodded.

"Alrighty then." His hands started furiously typing on the keyboard in his phone. "We're signed up as Ex-(T/N). We play the online qualifiers in a week, and if we make it through we play in the offline qualifiers and then if we make it through that one, we play in the tournament three days after."

"Simple enough." (T/M3) shrugged as she took a small bite out of her sandwich.

/

"You might be asking, why did the entire roster for (T/N) - excluding our coach - leave the organization?" You paused, looking straight into your phone's camera. "Well, I can't say much other than that there were conflicts between us and upper management regarding my transfer. However, this isn't the end of our journey."

"We will be looking forward to new successes and hopefully a better future with an organization that will not violate our rights as players and that have a desire to win. That is all I have to say for now. Watch for updates. See you later." You stopped recording and quickly uploaded the video to social media.

You sat down on the balcony of your temporary home, letting out a sigh as you looked down, appreciating the bird's-eye view of the massive city of Seoul.

Whoever built this house chose a really good spot to do it.

You lay down on the cold tiled floor, feeling the surface press into your back as you looked up to the sky, not knowing what to think about.


	8. Stream and Tournament

**Back to this story too! Getting the ball rolling right now!**

* * *

Your team blasted through both the online and closed qualifiers through pure raw skill. The competition didn't even have a chance, which was a big statement in the skill gap between the semi-professional teams and the pros. Or maybe it was just that Asia wasn't as strong in Counter-Strike as it was in other games such as DotA and League of Legends. Whatever, your team was through, and now the ball was rolling again.

You sat down on your chair as you started up your temporary computer with the intentions to start a quick stream before you had to leave. Having just woke up, you still had PJs on and had hair reminiscent of Twistzz, a former NA legend. **(you'll see what I mean when you look him and his amazing hair up)**

Well, it turned out that there was only twenty minutes until you were supposed to show up at the arena.

So, the plan to stream was out the window, now you had to get ready, eat something and somehow make your way to the other side of the city in nineteen minutes.

You better get going. You jumped off your bed, took some random clothes in your suitcase, and bolted into the shower.

You brought your phone with you to listen to the tournament's livestream whilst you were showering. You took off your clothes, admired your body in the mirror for a second before hopping into the shower.

"Finder, play the LucidHunt Champions livestream." You said to the smart home AI embedded inside the showerhead. It was a shocking discovery that stuff like this was allowed in Korea, but it was _damn cool._

"Okay, streaming LucidHunt Champions Day One Group Stages." Hot water came out of the shower head and doused your body in that sweet feeling of hot water on your skin. You washed yourself, quickly got out and started drying up.

" _Only about fifteen minutes before our first matchup of the day starts, let's start with some analysis. How are ex-(T/N) looking?"_ One of the hosts asked, looking towards the analyst on the left.

" _Oh yeah they're looking great. Stomped right through the qualifiers and aren't looking too shabby. I'll be honest, the only reason I think Overwatch have a chance here is cause ex-(T/N) haven't really played any Tier-One opposition really, but it seems that they kept their form amidst the chaos surrounding their organization._ " The analyst was Australian, nice beard and accent just noticeable enough to distinguish but not enough to impede the viewer's understanding.

" _Completely agree with you Sponge, Overwatch haven't been looking too good recently, hell they've been losing to teams such as Pro Virtue, who we all know as the practically bottom of the barrel for Tier two teams."_ The other analyst, Shields, had a distinguishable British accent that really emphasized his criticism of teams that haven't been up to standard. " _I'm gonna place my bet on Ex-(T/N)."_

" _Speaking of which…they haven't arrived at the venue yet."_ The announcer said, snapping you out of whatever daydream you were in and making you put your clothes on even faster. " _Huh, that's odd."_

You dressed up, and out you were. Grabbing an energy bar on the way out, you sped out the front door, and called a taxi.

"Need a ride?" You looked behind yourself, D'Va was leaning against the frame of the front door, twirling with keys in her right hand. "Come on, can't have you miss your first game of the day!" She hopped down some steps and walked to a sleek looking sports car.

"You sure you can get us there quick enough?" You asked, stepping inside the car and planting your ass on the front seat beside Hana's.

"Don't worry. I got my routes." Hana revved the car up and then the two were on their way. You kept the stream on just in case.

. . .

So, it turns out because of D'Va's immense popularity, she had numerous advantages over the regular people. One, she had access to a priority lane above the highways that people would normally have to pay an exorbitant amount to use, but because she was a global icon, she got access to it for free. Which meant that she had access to a practically empty highway 24/7. And secondly, she didn't have to obey speed limits if the highway was empty, so the entire trip was done at around 200 Kilometers an hour and cut the normal time of fifteen minutes to get to the Busan eSports Center into around five.

So, you were at your destination with about three minutes to spare. You opened the car door, jumped out, said a thanks to her before rushing into the venue. Hana sped away behind you. Rushing past security after you flashed your Player Badge, you made your way into the backstage of the arena, where all the group stage matches would be played out.

One-minute left. You made your way to your team's computers, sat down at yours and set up your game as quickly as you could.

"Looks like someone just showed up just at (T/N)'s row of computers…did we miss an announcement of a stand-in or something? Um…hold on is that (U/N)?" The host tilted his head as he looked at your unmasked face. "Huh, that's…odd. He isn't with his signature bucket today. Anyways, no forfeits today, ladies and gentlemen." The host said from a distance, taking a glance at you before looking back at the camera. "He's sweating bollocks right now." The host laughed. "Let's get on with the action!"

/

 _Group Stages opening match, LucidHunt Champions Seoul_

" _Interesting choice by Overwatch in banning Cache, which was one of their stronger maps. Looks like our first game of the day is going to be played on Mirage."_

" _So, Jerry, ex-(T/N) were almost late, no time to warmup, and they're playing one of their less stronger maps. Thoughts?" One of the two casters, OrangeSun asked his co-caster, JerryH. Twitch chat spammed the cmonBruh emote at his appearance on camera._

" _Well, this game will probably be closer than ex-(T/N) would like, but I'm sure they'll edge it out in the end." The game started as both teams bought their equipment and the pistol round started._

 _. . ._

 _Round 18, 10-8 favoring Ex-(T/N)_

" _It's one of those more unexpected plays though if there is a player underpass-" You jumped up from the middle window onto the railing on Catwalk, and shooting your AWP towards the enemy AWPer, but another player jumped in the way, causing for the bullet to kill the first one and felling the other behind him._

" _Oh, what? So quick!" You held your position on the railing and sniped another player attempting to cross. "He's gonna get a third as well!"_

" _Well this is a movie clip, hang on I'll talk about this later."_

/

Your performance in that game was quite subpar to your standards. You ended the game with a 15-20 K/D ratio, putting you at the bottom of the scoreboard for your team in terms of kills. Even though the game was won 16-12 (a score line way too close considering the opponent), you felt as though it was still a loss.

"Man, I played like a bot that game." You told (T/M), shaking your head as you cleaned up your peripherals. "I'll do better tomorrow."

(T/M) nodded in silent agreement as he packed up his last items and put them in his bag.

You went back to packing up when the host of the tournament approached you with a microphone and cameraman in tow. You looked nervously at the camera then to the host.

"So, (U/N), having just played that intense game versus Overwatch, how are you feeling?" The host put the microphone to your mouth. You opened it to try and say something but instead nothing came out. You seized, tensed up and clenched your fist as you got visibly red and tried looking at anywhere but the camera. "Uh, you alright there?"

(T/M1) quickly stepped in. "Sorry, he's not feeling well right now, I'll answer questions for him." He stood in front of you and let you evacuate from the radius of the camera.

. . .

" _Wonder what happened to (U/N), he was completely non-existent that game. Not the star we're so used to seeing, if he doesn't pick up the slack, hell if the entire team doesn't step up I don't think they'll make it through to the playoffs, overall a very shaky performance by ex-(T/N)."_ You listened to the analyst's stinging words.

" _He definitely played worse than his usual high-standard. Perhaps his signature bucket plays a factor in his confidence? I noticed that he played a lot differently, going for less aggressive peaks and in a style that didn't look like he was comfortable in. Another possibility is that he's just not feeling well, as (T/M1) said, perhaps he's sick?"_ The co-analyst added, you sighed as you closed the stream and leaned back on the plastic fold-up chair, looking upwards to avoid eye contact with anyone.

You heard footsteps coming in your direction, you looked back forward to see Tracer in her Overwatch jersey in front of you. "So, you're (U/N)." She smiled.

"You…need anything?" You asked, fidgeting around in your seat.

"Oh, nothing much. Just wanted to say GG because I didn't have a chance to do so earlier." She extended her hand out towards you. "You played well today!"

You stood up and grabbed her hand to shake it. Tracer caught you by surprise by pulling you in for a quick hug, as was courtesy after any game. You quickly adjusted yourself to meet her hug and then you both separated. "You were pretty good too. Hit us with the nasty lurks."

"Aw, thanks! Anyways, I gotta go now, team's waitin' on me. See ya around!" She did a quick wave and turned around, walking away.

You sat back down on your plastic chair. You pulled out your phone as it chimed. It was a text from Hana through Twitter DMs.

 _D'VA: im outside at the entrance_

 _(U/N): omw_

You stood up, stretched and walked to the entrance of the arena. You passed by Reaper, who gave you a nasty glare as you passed by.

/

"So…I'm free for the rest of the day." Hana stated as she drove.

"…Yeah? You wanna do something?" You replied. "Get to know each other?"

"Yeah…something like that. Uh, I could show you around the city, if you'd like?" Your throat went dry as she said that.

"Uh…" Your mind scrambled to find a response. Streaming sure felt like a good idea right now, but you had the chance to spend some time with your crush of maybe two years! Decisions, decisions. "Sure! That…sounds great!"

"Great! We'll head on home, you can change out of your jersey and we'll head out!" She sounded cheerful.

. . .

"Has it been a while since you were outside?" Hana asked, noticing your apparent awe at the technology district of Seoul. "Feels like I'm walking with a kid who's discovering the world. It's cute."

You ignored her last statement as you looked around the lively district. Men and women walked by with advanced technology floating in front of them, a drone just flew above your head and handed you a soda you ordered just a minute ago. Everything was just so _damn amazing_ in this place! You've never seen anything like it in North America.

"I'm just...shocked." You took in everything that could fit in your field of vision. "I've never seen anything like this before! Hell yeah I look like a child!"

Hana chuckled as she watched you run from store to store, checking out all the new pieces of technology that came out recently. "They don't have stuff like this in America?" She asked.

"Nope, nothing like it! This stuff is years ahead of us! Look at this!" He gawked at a gaming mouse that was supposed to be released in America a couple months ago, but kept on getting delayed by new developments and problems with being cleared by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission because of the new sensor that emitted tiny amounts of radiation that supposedly was three times as accurate than the standard sensors and caused no harm to humans whatsoever. "We were supposed to get this four months ago!"

You sped from display to display, trying out all the new peripherals out and staring in awe at the display computers shops had set up. "Oh man I'm soooo jealous!"

Hana smiled as your behavior reminded her of childhood, doing the exact same thing as you whenever one of her parents bothered to bring her to the tech district (as a way for her to take a side in a custody battle, but that's another story for another time). She found it endearing and cute.

"Crazy stuff isn't it? This isn't even the best part too, follow me! I'm gonna show you something real cool."

The two of you headed towards the South Korean Omnic War Museum.

/

The Omnic Skirmish-War was a conflict between the South Korean Army, NATO forces and the rogue Omnics that so plagued the world at the time. It was an epic back-and-forth battle of attrition for control over Seoul that resulted in great losses for both sides, ending with a decisive victory by the SK-NATO forces, driving the giant Omnic (known as the Great One) that harassed the city everyday into the sea, never to be seen again.

At least that was what the display said, in front of a diorama of the famous MEKA-Omnic Skirmish, one of the most lopsided victories ever won in the war. Hana had a great time pointing out which of her friends sat in what MEKA and what she accomplished in the battle, proud of her efficient maneuvering and accuracy as her MEKA laid waste to the Bastion Omnics. She let the battle play out, and had you focus on her mech, which had her logo stenciled on the guns.

The pink MEKA unit strafed in the area and blasted many airborne Omnics into oblivion and occasionally providing air support for the ground units, bombing Bastion-class Omnics straight to Hell. All the while avoiding incoming attacks from the enemy and carrying the human side to victory.

"You make it seem like you hard carried them, huh, D'Va?" You looked to her, who looked all proud with her hands on her hips.

"Yep! Got around a hundred kills that day!" She did a triumphant 'hmph' as she did a sort of victory pose, looking all proud. You smiled, finding amusement in her antics. "Ooh! Here's another battle I participated in!" Was this whole trip to the museum just for her to gloat on you?

She led you towards the display of the _Urban Frenzy._ A battle fought in Tianjin, China, that was considered part of the Omnic Skirmish-War as the result of the battle here would have had a great effect on the following engagements in South Korea. The diorama let the viewer choose which parts of the battle to learn about. Hana tapped on the ' _MEKA saves the day!_ ' option.

Hana pointed out her contribution, her amazing flying in the urban city, and how many Omnics she put down that day. You listened with interest as she went on about her history, only stopping her as you noticed a hidden away option entitled ' _Laughing Spark: Covert American Sacrifice.'_ You decided to tap on it.

The display moved towards a warehouse and put the description of the fight between American Special Operations and an unknown new Omnic model that hadn't been deployed in the battlefield yet. The diorama didn't have any information on this new Omnic, as you remember _it self-destructing._

You looked somberly at the display. This mission was your first ever operation as a soldier. You remembered every single detail, how the building crumbled on you, how the Omnic exploded, how you almost died due to being buried alive, how loud everything was, and the specific thoughts you thought as you were underground. It was all still ingrained in your brain. Of course, it wasn't the worst operation you've been on, but it was the first. The first time for anything always sticks.

"I heard the entire team that operated there died in the collapse." Hana paused. "I'm sorry if you lost any friends." She put a hand on your shoulder.

"It's just…stuck in my mind. You know how everything in your first mission feels surreal? Like…you feel like nothing could ever prepare you? And it turns out alright in the end?" You turned to Hana, looking at her blankly.

"Yeah, I get what you're feeling. You feel…vulnerable, right? And that feeling sticks with you even if it turns out okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. That's what it felt like when I was buried alive under that damn building." Your eyes darted around, reading the description of the diorama. "I felt scared."

"You were there?" She asked.

"I was."

"General told me the only things that were pulled out were bodies. Didn't mention if they were alive or not."

"Sure as hell felt like I was dead. Pretty sure the rest of the squad was actually dead."

"I'm sorry."

"No need to be. You couldn't have known."

"Come on, let's do something else. To take our minds away from this dark stuff."

"Agreed."

The two of you left the museum.

/

That something else was get some food. Hana decided for some fast food as that was the easiest, and as its name implied, fastest way to get their food. Not to mention it wouldn't stir up much attention.

Hana sat down in front of you with her tray of assorted foods, ranging from American delights such as fries and soda, universal food such as rice, and some Korean stuff called Kalbi. You kept it simple, having a burger, some fries and a diet soda.

"I was watching the stream when the host interviewed you…well, tried to at least." She paused. "You alright if I ask you about this?"

"…It's an issue I've been working on…since I was introduced to crowds." You said that last part much quieter, as if you were muttering to yourself. "Stuck with me since I was a kid."

"Stage fright, huh? Sucks." She took another bite of her food. "I'm in no position to offer advice, so I think I should just drop it."

Your phone vibrated in your pocket. You quickly pulled it out and saw the notification. "Aw fuck. Team practice." You tapped a quick response in before turning the device off.

"You need to head home now? You planning to stream after?" Hana asked, finishing up her food. "My fans loved it when we played Counter-Strike together yesterday. You want me to introduce you to Starcraft?"

You thought about it. "Sure."

"Perfect, now let's head home!"

/

Practice was hectic. You logged onto the server 10 minutes early to warm yourself up with the other team. (T/M) joined a couple minutes later.

" _Glad you're not late."_ He said. " _We're practicing Train._ "

" _Sounds good. I promise I won't be late tomorrow."_

" _You better not be."_

You jumped around the map, shooting randomly and sometimes towards the opponents if they showed up.

The rest of the team joined not long after.

" _Someone's early. Tryin' to make up for this morning?"_ (T/M3) said in some snarky, sarcastic tone.

" _Promise I won't. Other team ready?"_

" _Yeah, give 'em a second."_

 _. . ._

" _I'm pushing upper." You said, as you pushed the corridor that led to the B site. "There's two here, I'm gonna die."_

" _Last two upper, last two upper." (T/M3) said as he rotated to T spawn, holding the hall if the enemy were to leave. "Back off if you can, twenty seconds left."_

 _You died as you ignored (T/M3)'s advice, taking down one with you. "Fuck."_

" _What'd I tell you? You could've told us you were taking that fight." (T/M3) remarked, with slight annoyance in his voice._

" _I told you I was pushing upper!" You snapped back._

" _Bro if this is how we lose versus Talon tomorrow…" (T/M3) muttered as he gunned down the last enemy, winning your team the round. "Pushing and not give any info, Jesus Christ dude."_

" _But I said I was pushing upper!" You replied, "Like what more do you want from me!?"_

" _Knock it off you two." (T/M1) stepped in, shutting you both up. "Can't have this shit when we're up against a tough team tomorrow. (U/N), you should've given more info, (T/M3) you don't need to be so harsh."_

" _Just pisses me off when someone does a stupid fucking play like that…" (T/M3) trailed off._

 _The next round started._

" _Enough, both of you. Let's get this round going. We're gonna take Ivy and Fence control."_

 _. . ._

Moments like that littered the game, teammates arguing with each other over trivial things, losing dumb rounds due to stupid pushes and ego being too high to admit they were in the wrong.

You sighed as you took off your headset, leaning back on your chair as you put your thoughts together.

 _Fuck that was a nightmare._ You thought, closing your eyes as your chair slowly spun.

"Practice is over Hana! You want to start streaming now!" You called out to Hana.

"Yep! Lemme get ready!" She replied, her voice coming from her room.

. . .

You started up your stream, putting a countdown as you fiddled with the camera, making sure it got the best view of your bucket-head.

3\. Twitch chat started spamming emotes in anticipation. Tons of variations of PogChamp flashed across your screen.

2\. You cracked your neck.

1\. You looked towards the camera.

"Alright, new house, new me!" You waved at the camera. "Welcome to my second stream in South Korea, give me a second as I cage the plebs…" You clicked around and turned the chat to 'Subscribers only mode', much to the text-based displeasure of the non-subscribers. "Sorry guys, but there's too many of you to keep track of."

The chat slowed down considerably as the option was ticked. "Anyways, you probably heard from D'VA's twitter, if you haven't, we're gonna be playing Starcraft Two today. Maybe later, if she gets bored, we'll try a brand-new game."

Your phone rang as D'VA went live. You blacked out your screen, opening Discord to call Hana. The calling chime rang for a few seconds before the one and only joined the call. "Hey Hana."

"Sup! You ready yet?"

"Almost, give me another minute, so I'll answer some questions." You scanned the chat for questions that weren't too controversial.

"Uh, am I dating Hana?" You paused to think for a second. "Well, since I'm stuck here, she's been showing me around the city a bit, but no, we're not dating."

"You were so adorable at the tech district." You were surprised to hear her voice. "You forgot to take Push-To-Talk off."

"Aw shit. You got chat thinking we're dating now." You rolled your eyes.

You heard her giggle in the background. "I mean, I wouldn't mind it, but you know, long-distance and us having entirely different schedules probably prevents us from doing that."

You did a dry laugh as you tried to conjure up a response. "Girl you set off the internet."

She laughed again. "Alright, let's start the actual content."

"Right…" You opened the Battlenet launcher and started up Starcraft II.

. . .

Either Hana was a bad teacher, or RTS games were _way_ too complicated for you. It wasn't your first time playing a game like Starcraft, but with how Hana explained all the intricacies and complexities of the game…it just got lost on you.

You guys were stuck on proper resource management, this was the third time Hana had to dumb down her explanation, so it would get through your thick head, but you still weren't getting it. So, she tried a different method. She left the private match you two were in, logged into a smurf account that was of considerably lower rank than hers and queued for a game in public matchmaking.

As she progressed through the game, she explained what she was doing and why she did what she did. Although she didn't explain strategies that she uses in professional games, you got the general idea of what you were supposed to do.

"Don't hoard up all your resources, get just enough so you can have a steady stream of workers and units, but just enough so you can panic build in case shit hits the fan." She moved her cursor over the resource number, circling it a few times then going over to her unit production place (which you still didn't even know what it was called) and circling the steady stream of soldiers she was producing.

"Alright, I get that. Could have just said that in the first place." You replied.

"Perfect! You understand!" Hana cheerfully responded. "Now! You got that going, now you must make sure to establish your territory quickly or else the enemy will take it. Don't over extend, just take what you judge is enough to setup shop and put into effect your battle strategy."

"Do you have a rough estimate on what's enough territory?" You asked.

"Nope! You'll have to gauge the placement of resources on the map and take what you need so you can set up your strategy and take the enemy's territory. All on your playstyle!"

"Jesus Christ."

"And that what makes this game so good!"

"Look, I don't have enough IQ points for this…" You trailed off. "Okay, I'll give it a shot with matchmaking."

"Great! I'll be watching your stream and point out _every single mistake you make!_ " That last part was emphasized greatly, much to your displeasure. "Don't worry, I'll tell you how to fix them."

. . .

Cause you haven't played a single full match of Starcraft II before (that show-match didn't count because you were plain lucky you clicked the right things), you were placed against very low-level opponents.

They equalized your skill. Which hurt your pride. Games got very close and tense, on top of D'VA's constant pointing out of your mistakes which you did your best to correct but that wasn't enough to carry you out of Trash-tier player.

After enough games, you got placed in Silver, which was where most players started out after playing their placement matches.

So, you queued up your first ever _ranked_ game and got matched with a player that seemed to have about the same amount of time in the game as you.

. . .

The game got underway, picking Terran, you got your SCVs to gather resources and started making foot soldiers, then using those resources to stake out your territory.

Only to discover the other player had nearly half the map under his or her control. Already knowing you probably lost, you checked in with Hana to see what to do.

"Uh, this fuck already has half the map under his control, uh what do I do?" You hurriedly clicked around the screen, going back to homebase in case the other guy tried to do an offensive. "Hana?"

"Uh! Yeah, he already got that much, _three minutes into the game?_ " You heard her suppress a giggle. "Might as well just surrender. No chance. Not one bit, nuh-uh, you're done buddy."

Heeding her advice, you went ahead and surrendered. Your base exploded, and the defeat screen appeared.

"Wait I wasn't being serious!" Hana could barely stifle the giggles as she burst into full blown laughter. "Man, you just believed me as soon as I said it!"

"Well, what _else could I do?_ If the top Starcraft pro in the world tells me to surrender, I'm not in a position to refuse her advice!" You replied.

"Jeez, you're really hopeless, aren't you?" She laughed once more. "Well maybe you could've put up more of a fight?"

"Hold on a second." You blacked out your screen and opened D'VA's stream. "You motherfucker!" She was stream-sniping you! "Stream-sniping fuck!"

On her stream, she stuck her tongue out at the camera then looked back to her screen. "Alright, I think I humiliated you enough today. Wanna try something new?" She exited Starcraft II, and was now sitting at her desktop. You quickly followed.

"…Sure, you got anything in mind?"

"Hmm…"

The stream continued till late night.

* * *

 **That should be a wrap! Next chapter should just be on finishing up on the tournament and strengthening you and D'VA's bond!**


	9. Comfort

**Pure comfort fluff.**

* * *

The Omnic for the American side had been costly. Millions died in the year of the conflict. You were there, you got to witness the bloodbath first-hand, you, and millions of other men around your age.

Following your mission in China, you were given medical leave based on the trauma sustained of the event. You were afflicted with PTSD that never had a specific trigger. It would come back in dreams and haunt you. All the colleagues you lost, all the fighting you did, it stuck in a dark part of your mind, and would surface seemingly in random bursts.

Suffice to say, the war stuck with you. It was something nobody, aside from your team and the doctors in charge of you, knew about. It was something you preferred to keep under wraps, as to not negatively affect your fans' views on yourself. You were the athlete of the year, for three years, and you fought hard to upkeep the perfect image people painted of you. What could be more inspiring than the story of a kid who worked hard for his dreams and is now a global icon? Knowing that kid is also human and suffers from the same things that the regular human does would no doubt shatter some fans' views.

You didn't like it. Not one bit.

/

 _Five minutes prior to the Omnic Rebellion Ceasefire_

 _Five minutes until you got to go home. Five minutes until you could throw this entire conflict in the past. Five minutes until you could return to be the Counter-Strike legend that you were. It was so close, you could practically taste it. The rebellion had been taxing on everyone involved; a battle for attrition against an enemy you could barely see until it was too late._

 _Damn it all, you thought. You looked at the digital clock. Four minutes until the ceasefire took effect, at midnight of the first of January. The first hour, of the first month, of the first year. The date was meant to be iconic and remembered for ages, like the Armistice of the First World War nearly two centuries ago._

 _You and your spotter were ordered to be on watch until the ceasefire was called. Although you and your partner weren't exactly doing that, it was what you two were supposed to be doing._

 _Your spotter was roughly your age, a bit shorter than you and his name was Alec. Nice guy, had fantastic eyes that were further amplified by his enhancements. You two got along well enough, good enough to be considered friends. Your only friend really during this entire rebellion as he was the only one you ever saw frequently._

" _Uh…we got reports of an Omnic standing on Bloom Street, just west of you guys. He seems to be armed. Investigate and report back." You looked at the clock. Three minutes left._

" _Well, we better get going." You sighed, quickly folded your sniper rifle and headed towards the marker that appeared._

 _. . ._

 _As you set back up, you saw the Omnic that was mentioned. Humanoid in figure, was rusted all over and had a pistol in his hands. You scoped in. In front of the Omnic was a group of three soldiers, in standard US Military uniform._

" _I'm gonna go down there and check out what's happening." Your spotter told you as he hopped downwards, towards the street._

 _Your gut told you to tell him to not go. You kept your mouth shut against its wishes._

 _Your spotter's radio chatter played in your ear._

" _What's happening here folks? Excited to celebrate together?" Your spotter said, chuckling afterwards. "Now, now, let's put the guns down and talk this out."_

 _Alec raised his hands. "See, not gonna bite ya."_

 _Your right palm gripped your weapon tighter than normal. You felt something bad was going to happen._

 _Two minutes until the ceasefire._

" _Alec…back away from there right now."_

" _Come on, we're only two minutes from the ceasefire, the war's practically over!" Alec laughed._

" _Yeah…it would be if the damn scrap heap put his pistol down." The solder to Alec's right remarked._

" _What'd you call me!?" The Omnic started shaking as it raised the pistol._

" _Hey, hey! Come on, put the gun down." Alec slowly approached the rusted Omnic with slow, deliberate movements. He slowly reached for the pistol._

" _Alec…" You muttered. Alex took hold of the pistol, and slowly raised it to point towards the air, and then slowly pulling it from the Omnic's grasp._

" _I'm sorry…" The Omnic whispered to Alec, a positive whirring came from it as electricity crackles sparked from within._

" _ALEC GET DOWN!" You shot the Omnic in the head, but it exploded before Alec could get away._

" _No-no-no-no…" You quickly hopped from your nest down to street level, running towards the blast. "ALEC! You there!?" You screamed into the air. "ALEC!"_

 _Alec was gone. Dead. There was no way he could have survived the blast. Your stomach churned as the thought passed through your head._

 _Now at the center of the blast, you desperately searched for Alec, any sign, any peep, anything that could indicate he was alive._

 _You found nothing. The truth came barreling in. He was gone._

" _Ceasefire's now in effect. Come back to base people, we'll be watching the peace negotiations and hot food will be served."_

/

You woke up with a gasp and patted yourself down. You looked around in the dark room.

Another nightmare. Your heart was pumping, and a cold sweat trickled down your head. You checked the time.

 _4:37 AM._

"It's all in the past…let's move on now…he's been dead for a year…" You muttered to yourself, curling up and rocking back and forth. "Just accept it…you can't do anything about it…It's all been done and dusted."

You tightly shut your eyes and sobbed into your knees. Tears streamed down your eyelids to your face.

"I'm sorry Alec…I shouldn't have left you go…" You muttered in between sobs.

A few quick knocks came from your door. "Can I come in?" You heard Hana's soft voice from the other side."

"Y-yeah…" You managed to choke out loud enough. The door opened, revealing Hana in her pink PJs with a worried expression plastered over her face.

"…Is there something bothering you?" She flicked the light switch on and approached you.

"If you couldn't tell." You snapped at her, glaring at Hana for a second before softening up. "I'm sorry." You muttered.

"Don't worry about it." Hana sat down next to you and wrapped her arm around you. "Look, for the past few days you've been screaming and mumbling in your sleep. Is there something you need to talk about?"

You stayed quiet for a second, not knowing what to say. If you said no, she would know that you were lying. If you said yes, you would have to tell her everything and relive that pain again. You shut your eyes for a few seconds before opening them, a fresh few drops of tears coming out.

"Yeah." You paused. "I need to say something."

Hana turned you around to face her. "Whatever it is, I'm here to listen." She spoke softly.

You took a deep breath before making direct eye contact with her.

"It's about the war…and me."

/

And so (Y/N) told her. Hana could tell he wasn't holding any details back. He told her about his life as a soldier, his harsh bringing to reality after the disaster of his first operation. He told her about his premature burial during the operation, the men he fought alongside with that died in an instant as the building crushed them, and what he thought of it all. He didn't spare any details about his time fighting in the cities of America, how it turned one the brightest cities in the world into a hellhole. He talked about the Omnics, and how they were mostly monsters and murders, but they weren't all bad. For every evil Omnic there were good ones that tried to put an end to the fighting or were scared to fight. (Y/N) described how he had to execute those ones from afar, as he couldn't tell them apart from the bad ones.

(Y/N) described all the death he had witnessed, all the bloodshed and the violence and his friends that were there one day, and then weren't the other. "I…would talk to them, have lunch with them the first day, then the next, they would disappear, and I would never see them again." He described the brutal trench warfare that, despite it being in an urban area, or the relic of one. He told her about the brutal cavalry charges that were made by his side and how he had to witness from afar the massacre that had happened.

He trailed off from there, descending into quiet mutters.

Hana sat there, digesting all the information that had been thrown at her. (Y/N) kept talking about how he should have died instead of anyone else, how he failed himself and how he should've offed himself a while ago.

Hana stopped him from talking there. She forced him to look at her. "No. I don't believe that." She said simply. "You're here for a reason."

"You don't need to hold onto the past anymore. Let it go." Hana paused. "You were strong enough to push through these atrocities, you're definitely strong enough to confront your past."

"I don't think I can. They come back to me…I can see them all over again…I relive everything all over again…" (Y/N) said, trying to look away from Hana, she kept her grasp on the sides of his head firm.

"Look at me." Hana said. "Seriously, I need you to look at me." (Y/N) looked at Hana in the eyes. "I am here for you, alright? I know it's been only a week or so but I really…"

(Y/N) nodded.

"We'll get to that later. For now, I want you to look forward and move on from the past. Stop bottling it up and throwing yourself further into the abyss." Hana paused. "If you want to move on, you have to be the one that tells the past to…get lost. I can support, but I can't do it for you. Understand?"

(Y/N) looked somber. "Yes. You're right." He collapsed into Hana. "You're so fucking right it hurts." He sobbed into her pajamas. Hana wrapped an arm around his head and patted it.

" _And, my love, I won't give up…so my love, please don't give up…"_ Hana quietly sang the verse. It wasn't literal, but it conveyed the message. "We can take a shot at a relationship if you want." She said, smirking as (Y/N) slowed his sobs, before stopping entirely.

"You serious?" He said, his voice muffled by her pajamas.

"Of course." Hana hugged him tighter before letting go.

* * *

 **Cheesy, yes. Underdeveloped? Maybe. Anyways, enjoy. Leave your thoughts and suggestions for improvement in a review.**


	10. Split

Deep breath. In and out.

You closed your eyes as you sat down at your chair. Big match today, versus Talon. Your team was the underdog as the opposing team have been on a tear recently, and yours wasn't in the greatest shape.

You glanced nervously towards (T/M), who was casually setting up his gear, then looked towards your opponents, sat on the opposite side. You noticed Reaper shoot a nasty glare as you as he sat down. You gulped and looked towards your computer monitor, grabbing hold of your mouse and starting your warmup.

You had a bad feeling about this.

/

" _Ex-(T/N) are gonna be banning Overpass, one of their strongest maps in favor of Inferno. (T/M) did say they were practicing on this map so I wouldn't put them out of this just yet." The analyst paused, straightening his notes. "Well, I still don't have much hope for them either way, but there's that." The bearded man chuckled._

" _Well, with how they played yesterday versus Overwatch of all teams, I'm with you, Sponge."_

" _None of you have hope? We are talking about one of the most dominant NA rosters in a while here, guys." The third analyst added. "I'm gonna be placing an underdog bet on Ex-(T/N), not-"_

" _Cause you believe in the NA dream?"_

" _Well, you could say that."_

" _Ah well, sorry to say but your dream is gonna be crushed today. Onto you Jerry and Osun."_

 _. . ._

/

 _LucidHunt Champions Seoul, Group Stage, 1-0 round_

The game didn't start off well. After having been dominated by an overly-aggressive strategy in the pistol round, your team couldn't find a way to string rounds, let alone win any.

The current scoreline was 11-2 in favor of the enemy. (T/M3) had just eliminated Junkrat who attempted to push through the Banana smoke into T Steps, regaining the manpower equality, but Widowmaker replied with a double kill onto you, peeking the right-side corner of top of middle into her crosshairs, then (T/M3) who peeked from apartments.

Both of your peeks were badly coordinated and resulted in a 2v4. (T/M) picked up the AWP then (T/M3) died to Sombra, who was AWPing for some reason. Roadhog then pushed Banana, behind your IGL and sprayed him down from behind.

" _Fuck dude, why the hell aren't you peeking when I'm peeking? Come on." You said as you rubbed your eyes in frustration._

" _I didn't know you were peeking that early! Could have at least told me, huh?_ " Your teammate replied. " _Besides, it wouldn't have done anything. Sombra would've just peeked out and fucked us both."_

" _Wasn't (T/M3) covering that angle?" You asked._

" _No. Sorry." (T/M3) replied._

" _Jesus Christ guys." You muttered, sighing afterwards._

. . .

The half ended at 13-2 in favor of your opponents.

The pistol round on the CT half was as bad, if not worse than the rest of the game. Four enemies went straight for the B bombsite while another lurked in the Apartments, carrying the bomb. (T/M) thought it was a straight B rush but upon rotating to the site for the retake, and after you, (T/M2) and (T/M1) died, it was then revealed that the bomb was in fact A and not B.

" _We seriously fell for that? Holy shit this game keeps getting worse…_ " _You muttered in open comms._

" _(Y/N) if you have anything to say, then say it. This game's practically over. Tell me, what could we improve, hm?" (T/M) snapped, practically seething from the teeth. The IGL sighed. "Why do you keep blaming us instead of looking at yourself?"_

" _Who's the one with the positive K/D!?" You snapped back. "Am I the only one getting kills here? Fucking hell dude. Where is everyone else, I thought this was a team-based game!" You slammed your desk as you got mowed down by a Mac-10 at bottom middle._

Your team won the round, and managed to win another, but Talon replied with a force-buy win that put your team at a four to fifteen scoreline.

" _Yeah it's over._ " _(T/M3) muttered as your team almost lost a 5v2 but managed to pull back the retake with two players remaining._

The score was 15-5.

Your team managed to get two more rounds, making the score 15-7 but a successful B site take and an uncoordinated retake lost the game.

You took off your headset, sighed and stood up to go shake hands with the victors, as was tradition. You didn't bother looking at your teammates.

. . .

" _What a horrendous game by Ex-(T/N). That physically hurt to watch. What the Hell happened?"_

" _Well, Shields, it doesn't seem like they've been practicing hard. That incoordination and general sloppiness is something I personally have never seen before in a team of this caliber." The bearded Australian analyst shook his head. "This game was frankly terrible of them."_

" _Yeah, I agree Sponge, certainly no hope for the American powerhouse that seems to be powering down." The other British caster, by the name of Mechanic said. "I don't see much hope for this team if they continue to play like this."_

" _Anyways, onto the next matchup…"_

/

As you shook Reaper's hand, his grip tightened as he approached his mouth to your ear.

"You better watch out boy." He muttered, barely audible but still loud enough to send shivers down your spine.

You tried pulling your hand out of fear, but he kept his grip.

"Got some bad people after you." He muttered before moving on. You went on to shake the hand of the other four members of Talon.

They all looked at you funny, and you didn't like that. You gulped in fear after the other team and yours left.

/

You were frustrated. Very much so, and Hana was there to listen to you as you vented your anger. It was a healthy experience, as she knew how to listen and never attempted to solve your issues, as that wasn't what you needed.

She wrapped her arm around your shoulders and squeezed you tight. "Be strong for the next game. I want to see you on stage." She smiled. "Do you need anything before I leave for my match?"

You shook your head. "Thanks for listening."

"Always a pleasure." She smiled once more, sending butterflies into your stomach. "Are you free tonight? You want to do another stream together?"

"That's if (T/M) doesn't do an extended practice session."

"Oh well, we'll see. See ya!" She opened the front door and left.

You collapsed on the couch and sighed, pinching your nose.

This was a new emotion.

. . .

Your feelings were jumbled. You didn't know how to deal with this newfound feeling of butterflies. It…made you feel uneasy, he unfamiliarity of it playing a big part in that feeling. You couldn't believe you were admitting this to yourself but…

You were crazy for Hana.

Upon shaking that thought out of your head, you decided to go outside and take a walk to clear your mind of the cloudiness that so plagued your romantically undeveloped brain.

It was still early in the day, and there were people bustling about in the quiet suburban neighborhood that you decided to take your walk in. It was a sunny, quiet day. Birds chirped, flower petals danced in the pure air, and everything was right in the world.

Although the black sedan that was tailing you was a bit suspicious.

In fact, it was _really_ suspicious. The thing kept _just_ enough distance to be a small dot in your peripheral vision, but was consistent enough to arouse suspicion. It followed you like an AWPer tracking its unsuspecting victim.

You were going crazy, seeing random shit. You gulped as the sedan slowly encroached upon you as you moved further down the sidewalk. Something was off, you knew it.

You decided to take a turn into the backyard of a random house, not caring if there was anyone home. Walking on the luscious grass you heard the car stop at the driveway of the house. Doors clicked open then closed.

"Quick op. Nab the guy and get out. Kill any witnesses." Your blood went cold as you heard the robotic voice. You took a turn into the space between two hedge bushes big enough to conceal you. Waiting for someone to come by, you held your breath.

An Omnic in a black suit passed by, its three human friends trailing behind. You decided to go for the one at the back. Quickly grabbing the henchman's neck as your hand made its way to grab the pistol in its right hand. The enemy resisted as you jammed your finger into the trigger guard and forced the pistol to point at its owner. Quickly forcing the trigger to pull, the body of your enemy fell lifelessly as you shook off the blood and aimed the bloodstained silenced pistol towards your opponents.

You didn't hesitate to shoot the man to the right, a quick shot to the heart disabled him as you rolled into a plant, evading the volleys of plasma that had every right to take your life away.

"Reloading!" You heard one of the men call out. Taking this as your opportunity you peeked from your cover and fired a few volleys towards one of the kidnappers. The man slumped over, blood pouring out from his stomach as he clutched onto it, falling into his eternal slumber as his head slumped to the side.

A shot from the enemy hit your other shoulder. The plasma burned into your body as it pierced a hole into your skin. Flesh exposed as you grit your teeth and snarled. You did a roll to the side and fired a few more shots towards your kidnappers, a few landing on the last human henchman alive. The man screamed and fell.

You noticed the battery to your pistol was running low.

 _Shit._

"POLICE! GET ON THE GROUND!" You heard the voice of a police officer that was rapidly approaching, followed by an entire SWAT team equipped with assault rifles and armor. You were shoved to the ground and had your hands bound by handcuffs. The pain in your shoulder burned as it was moved.

"Dude! My shoulder!" You seethed between grit teeth.

"Oh. Sorry." The SWAT soldier replied as he took out a needle from his waist and stabbing it next to your wound. "There. That should make it feel better."

A whirring came from the Omnic that was cuffed too. Adrenaline pulsed through your veins as you shook the SWAT unit off and ran towards the Omnic, shielding the police officers from the ensuing blast.

A flash of white and the world went dark.

. . .

 _Beep._

 _Beep._

 _Beep._

 _Beep-beep._

You gasped as you awoke from your slumber, frantically turning around as soon as your eyes regained their vision. You then regretted that decision as pain came from every joint and every muscle possible. Slumping down, then sighing as you took in where you were.

A hospital. The divider curtains were green whilst the walls were white. A potted flower stood proud on a nightstand next to your bed.

A nurse quickly came running in. She said something in Korean before rushing out. A doctor and Hana came into scene not long after.

Hana smiled as she saw you. "Hey, you're finally awake. You were trying to cross…" Her smile turned into a grin.

"Fuck off I'm not in Sky-" You were interrupted by a coughing fit as your throat was drier than a desert.

"Slow down…you have been asleep for a few days and obviously haven't drank anything." The doctor remarked, he then said something towards the nurse. Said nurse came back with a glass of water which you took gladly and slowly drank from.

Wait.

It's been a few days.

"Oh shit." You said out loud. "How did my team-" Hana's smile disappeared.

"Your team…they…" She crossed a single arm as she attempted to deliver the presumably bad news. "They…kicked you after losing the rest of their games. I wanted to bring it up later when you were recovering…but-"

"What?" Was the only thing you could say. "I was…kicked?"

"Yeah…and the rest of the team are splitting. Some are joining Talon." Your state of confusion changed to shock as the news came to you. "It's kind of…complicated right now. I suggest you relax and recover-"

"No. Doc, when's the earliest I can get out of here?" The doctor looked surprised at the question, then looked at his tablet before glancing back at you.

"You should be ready to leave today…but I don't advise you to-"

"Get me outta here."

. . .

You leaned on the railing of the hospital, putting your single crutch under your other arm as you speed dialed (T/M). It rang a few times, then went straight to voicemail.

You tried (T/M1). Same thing.

(T/M2) to (T/M3) had the same response.

You growled as you chucked the phone off the balcony and swore your lungs out, cursing every single 'teammate' you had.

"Damn them all to Hell." You muttered as you shut the sliding door behind you.


End file.
